yesterday, i enjoyed making individual portions of summer vegetable casseroles. what a great way to use your fresh herbs and vegetables. i subsituted regular bread crumbs for homemade gluten-free bread crumbs......

celiac disease.

let me share, what's been going on here.

for the past couple of years...

my husband brad, has not been feeling 100% well....

we chalked it up to age.

we chalked it up to, too many beans.

too many blueberries.

not enough water.

this and that and the other.

in july, he suffered four out of four solid weeks

of severe and odd health issues.

- extreme and uncomfortable digestive issues

(starting with his teeth) right through the large intestine

-always feeling full

-dry eyes

-extreme thirst

- extreme irritability

-pallor to the point of grey

-lethargic

-continuous joint pain in his wrists

-middle toe pain: swelling, inflammation and the top of his foot was red and hot to the touch. he had a difficult time walking.

enough.

i called his doctor. couldn't get an immediate appointment.

so, i asked for any doctor with an appointment available immediately.

within hours he was in a doctors examination room.

this doctor, suggested he get tested for celiac disease.

blood work.

me on google.

all symptoms match perfectly.

i instantly took out all gluten from his diet.

with a trip to local grocery stores,

and not knowing a thing about gluten...

i came back with food made without wheat, oats, barley, and rye.

not an easy scavenger hunt.

however, if you saw his pain, you'd understand, my efforts.

within 36 hours... i saw improvements.

his digestive problems improved very slightly. and his color was back.

while we waited for the blood work, which sadly came back inconclusive, i did more research on celiac. and, faithfully and without missing a beat, kept him on a gluten-free diet.

improvements have been seen daily.

according to a new m.d. we saw on saturday.. who practices at a larger, more contemporary hospital, assured us that only 40% of celiac patients test positive for the disease. while all symptoms have subsided-- except for his foot pain- which should clear up completely, within 90-120 days... my own research, validated a small intestine biopsy or removal of all gluten is the only fool-proof way of knowing if the disease is present. brad did mention that, "he didn't realize how sick he's been-- now that he's feeling so much better." since going gluten-free, he's lost 9 lbs. because of removing the processed foods from his diet and eating products made with brown rice flour, etc. (he now weighs 155). tommie and i are not 100% gluten free.. yet. we're slowly making the transition... using up the wheat products i have on our shelves. you, know... i'm from the "can't waste," mentality.

we look to this past july and all of the hand-wringing moments as a blessing from God. we look forward to fine-tuning all of our diets and sweeping the processed foods completely out of our lives. with celiac disease...you must stay gluten-free forever.

lastly, i am really enjoying the hunt for new recipes and beyond thrilled to see brad's improvements.

in the near future, i will have links to gluten-free blogs... just in case you know of someone who needs help.