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We Have Some Exciting News!

And, no, we are not pregnant!  Will post soon.  Just working out some last details.  Praising God for His Abundant Riches!

http://ggwo.org/index.php?module=mediaplayer&action=archive&id=19&message=MTMzMDI=

In the meantime, click the link above and listen to a great sermon on not touching the unclean thing.  So good!

Much Needed Update

Well… there’s a lot to tell.

Hmm..

Our lifestyle change is going well.  I have eaten a few things not on my list – chocolate (without milk), a diet coke on a 100 degree day and Henry and I shared a vegan gelato that same day we were dying of the heat walking around the inner harbor.  I also must have eaten a little gluten by accident… could be those Chick-fil-a fries I have been craving.  Big mistake.  When things are cooked in the same oil as gluten = massive migraine.

Since Henry’s day of getting terribly ill, he has done much better.  For the most part we are very strict with him only on occasion allowing some sugar.  His digestive system has improved greatly and it seems as though he is eating much, much more and growing.  His rash comes and goes.  The Candida battle will be a long hard fight made longer by my occasional sugar allowance for my baby.

Dave and I are now door greeters at church.  We do it once a month while my mother in-law watches the little one.  I might have already mentioned this.  We love it!

My weekly Bible studies ended over a month ago and it seems that something comes up every time I try to get to the new one.  Hopefully tomorrow!

So, it might be time to potty train Henry.  He whipped his diaper off one day while Myriah was here and peed on my couch pillow.  Then the next day he took his diaper off while supposedly taking a nap (ha-ha) and had big hunks of poop EVERYWHERE.  It was sick!!  So just steeling myself up for something I have never done.

I am reading The Help about black women’s perspective on helping white women in the 60’s.  Very interesting.  And sad.  And probably accurate.

Henry’s vocabulary has increased tremendously.  He pretty much can repeat anything we say and is attempting to communicate more and more.  He also is very good at following commands.

Yesterday we went to the lunch rap at church.  We drove by the exit we usually take to Stacey’s and Henry started screaming,"Shayshe! Shayshe!”  I had to tell him we weren’t going to Stacey’s yet.  It’s so cute he can recognize an exit.  It doesn’t really stand out from the rest – they all look the same!  Smart boy!

It’s close to 100 degrees here today.  We have limited our outdoor exposure.

I bought an oak table and chairs for my mom for mother’s day.  I am refinishing them as a gift.  I have been quite the slacker because of the wedding and company.  But I am back in gear.  She requested just plain but I think I’m going to surprise her.

 

Photos to come!

Good Reminder for Gluten Sensitivity

Good reminder of why it’s important to stick to a gluten free diet if you have a sensitivity.  It’s estimated that over 50% of the population does:

Better Education for Celiac and Gluten Sensitive Patients

Dr. Vikki Petersen D.C, C.C.N

This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2010 edition of Celiac.com's Journal of Gluten-Sensitivity.
Celiac.com 12/06/2010 - The hazards to health created by celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are well understood.  From nutritional deficiencies to osteoporosis, from depression to autoimmune disease, and from psoriasis to thyroid disease, there are few areas of the human body that gluten doesn’t touch in a negative way. 
There is so much emphasis on our inadequate abilities to diagnose gluten intolerance, that when we do finally make the diagnosis I believe we are guilty of another problem—lack of adequate education to those affected patients.
Just last month a research study was released by the American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2010 Jun; 105(6):1412-20.  The article was entitled “mucosal recovery and mortality in adults with celiac disease after treatment with a gluten-free diet”.  The research team hailed from the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
They stated that while a positive clinical response is typically observed in most adults with celiac disease after treatment with a gluten-free diet, the rate of small intestine recovery is less certain.  Their aims were to estimate the rate of intestinal recovery after a gluten free diet in a cohort [a group of people with statistical similarities] of adults with celiac disease, and to assess the clinical implications of persistent intestinal damage after a gluten-free diet. 
Of 381 adults with biopsy-proven celiac disease, 241 had both a diagnostic and follow-up biopsy.  Among these 241, the confirmed mucosal recovery at 2 years following diagnosis was 34% and at 5 years was 66%.  Most patients (82%) had some positive clinical response to the gluten-free diet, but it did not prove a reliable marker of intestinal recovery. 
Poor compliance to the gluten-free diet, severe celiac disease as defined by diarrhea and weight loss, and total villous atrophy at diagnosis were strongly associated with persistent intestinal damage. 
There was a trend toward an association between mucosal recovery and a reduced rate of all-causes of death, adjusted for gender and age. 
The conclusions were that intestinal recovery was absent in a substantial portion of adults with celiac disease despite treatment with a gluten-free diet, and that there was an association between confirmed intestinal recovery (vs. persistent damage) and reduced mortality independent of age and gender. 
So what can we learn from this?

1. Eating gluten-free when you are sensitive will cause you to feel better. 
2. Going on a gluten-free diet is not enough to ensure that your intestines will heal.
3. Failing to heal your intestines puts you at increased risk for disease and death.
4. Successfully healing your intestines reduces your incidence of death from disease.

While you likely knew the first point, 2, 3, and 4 are perhaps less well known. 
Where I see that we are failing the gluten intolerant population is in the narrow focus of eliminating gluten as the only needed treatment.  What the above research proves is that, unfortunately, for over 30% of those diagnosed simply eliminating gluten is insufficient to ensure intestinal healing. 
If patients were educated that healing their intestine would make the difference between contracting disease or not and extending their life expectancy or not, I think they’d be more interested in ensuring that it occurs.
I am not a researcher but my clinic sees hundreds of patients who align with the results of this study completely.  Patients come to see us who have been told that they shouldn’t consume gluten and for the most part they follow that recommendation.  They know that they feel better when they are gluten-free so that is an impetus to not cheat.  When they do cheat they know that they’ll “pay” for it but they still do so fairly regularly. 
Why do they cheat?  Because they believe that the diarrhea, headache, bloating, etc is temporary and that when it goes away they are “fine” again.  Their thought process is not unreasonable, it’s just wrong!
If each patient was educated that cheating created intestinal destruction that in turn put them on a fast track towards disease and early death, I believe that cheating would take on a whole new perspective.
Patients need this education and they need it often.  Our book “The Gluten Effect” was written with this intention—our patients actually requested it.   They asked for a written reminder of why they should maintain their gluten-free lifestyle.  Later I began taping Youtube videos because other patients preferred a reminder in a video form. 
I’m trying to say this in a few different ways because it is terribly upsetting to meet patients, as I so often do, who have been diagnosed celiac or gluten sensitive and do not follow their diet solely due to ignorance.
After almost 25 years of clinical experience I also know that some people “hear what they want to hear” and doctors with the best of intentions cannot get through to everyone.  But I strongly believe that we could be doing a much better job at enlightenment.
Further, we also need to educate patients about the secondary effects associated with gluten.  When the immune system of the intestine is suppressed, as is the case in the presence of gluten pathology, inhospitable and pathogenic organisms can gain entry into the intestine and remain there.  These organisms may be in the form of bacteria, parasites, amoebas or worms and if they are not identified and eradicated, complete healing of the intestines is all but impossible. 
The good bacteria that are housed in the gut, known as the microbiome or probiotics, make up much of the intestinal immune system.  In gluten intolerant patients this important population of organisms is often insufficient due to the onslaught from gluten and pathogenic organisms.  If the population of these probiotics is not restored to a healthy, robust balance, any attempt to achieve a healthy intestine will be unsuccessful.
Lastly, it is an interesting catch-22 that in order to digest our food we need enzymes and enzymes are made from the nutrients we digest.  This circular pattern is dramatically interrupted in the gluten intolerant patient.  Celiacs in particular suffer from very poor absorption.  It shouldn’t then come as a surprise that augmenting with proper enzymes may be critical for “priming the pump” until proper digestion of nutrients is restored.
Unfortunately I find that few, if any, of these points are made clear to patients who are gluten intolerant.  Most believe they are doing all they need to do simply by maintaining a mostly gluten-free diet.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

Victor & Chelsea ~ May 28, 2011

 

Here is a link to the photos my cousin Annie and I did for our cousin's wedding. Our cousin Rye, the groom's brother, did the flowers.

http://photobucket.com/victorandchelsea

 

Victor and Chelsea ~ May 28, 2011

 

Keep checking back as we add more photos.

Passed Out

Someone was very tired from partying all night each night on vacation.  He decided he could take a break as soon as his parents left the house. 

This is my nephew Christopher Vincent named after his only two uncles who both died suddenly within 4 months of each other.  He is the energizer bunny when his parents are around but gives himself a break when they leave him with his aunt (me).

Boat Ride with the Aikens: Baltimore

Teagan’s face says it all:  very, very hot day.  The boat ride was a minor relief.

Henry looks a little grumpy in this picture but overall was taking the heat pretty well.

This little guy took it the worst.  His little pale skin was beet red.

A little better on the way back to the inner harbor.

Stephanie enjoying herself on the way back.