The Holwerda Family Blog

This past year has been an incredible whirlwind of crazies, sadness and other health related stupids.....

Pardon me, whilst I blog out the past year of hell to you folks.  I started out last October in kind of a haze of health issues.  My stomach was hurting nearly every day.   I was developing bruises and weird rashes seemingly caused by nothing at all. I had red spots in(not on, people, IN) my skin. My hair was falling out. My body ached so bad and I was SO tired all of the time... I was convinced I was dying from something.  Turns out, my gallbladder had just died, literally, and as it was decaying in it's little spot near my liver.  After they removed the gallbladder, I started noticing that my stomach or appetite had become a lot pickier than it had been before they did the surgery on me.    I'd eat but it wouldn't stay down. I'd drink liquids and they wouldn't even stay down. I'd get food to stay down only to be in agony, dealing with these sharp pains in my upper stomach for hours after.  After countless test showed nothing wrong, I figured out a way of coping with both the nausea and the pains through suggestions from friends and family and with my doctors help of course. (yeah yeah, i know you've all read this crap before...just hang on. i promise it gets somewhat interesting) For a while, things seemed to be going really okay until the beginning of this month, when it felt like there was something twisting/pinching/stabbing the organ right below my ribs and the pain went all the way around and into my back... Whatever had gone wrong, scared me enough that I ended up back in the hospital.  The test they ran on me said I'm fine and assured me, I'll live so they sent me home with no answers, again.   Now, I was happy to be sent home.  It's not ever my intention to be admitted into that hospital, ever, again! I was NOT happy, however, with this new constant pain in my ribs/diaphragm area with no answers so I finally agreed to see the surgeon that my Doctor had been pushing for me to see, since May of this year. BOO! (he was mean to me...i didn't want to see that guy ever again :()

Keep in mind that I've been struggling so hard to keep my weight on, this whole time.  I was scared when I dropped below my comfortable, bottom weight, in the beginning of spring this year.  I'm 20 lbs less than I was at that point, I'm pretty scared now. I'm willing to try anything to make it better SO when I met with the surgeon and he dismissed any physical or permanent damage to my organs as the cause, I was confused.  I was elated and even more anxious about it at the same time.  If it's not my organs, then what?  What could he possible offer me as an explanation?

Food allergies....



....Food allergies? Gluten and animal bi-product, most likely. AKA, Celiac disease diet.
  Do you people know how much is out in this world that has gluten in it? EVERYTHING! From foods you eat, to stamps you lick, to envelopes with dried adhesive (as well as latex, huh...interesting) to medications.  MEDICATIONS??? ARGH!   I'm pretty tylenol/aleve/ibuprofen dependent and have been since the car accident that screwed up my back at 18, folks.  There hasn't been a day since that, that I have not had to, HAD TO, take a couple of tylenol or ibuprofen just to get this old back going well enough. Now what the hell do I do?   These people sure are removing every last little bit of "quality" I had left in my life.  Now I've got a constant pain in my ribs, right side front and back, as well upper abdomen pain and my lower back is all tense and achy from a very old injury, flaring up in this cold weather OH and I also get hormonal migraines  too (stupid femaledom) and cannot take anything western medicinally for it, anytime soon. The horror!

No, not really.  In the grand scheme of things, it's just a diet.  I'm not dying nor are there any signs of me going to die anytime soon so I should just suck it up and learn to deal with it. Right? Right!
Any celiac disease, sufferers in the family or anyone out there, who read this blog?  HELP! I've googled and researched as much as I can... I need basics on how to get started and organized with this new life.   Which stores carry the best items?  Which restaurants are ACTUALLY gluten free and vegan? Are there any true vegan/gluten free eatery's out there?  I've looked up the menu's in some of these so called places and moved on to the next when I would read "buffalo milk mozzarella" or "fresh farm raised eggs, aioli"...Honestly, false advertisement should be a department in the government (since they like to be involved in everything else, in the average americans, life) and they should have these people's eatery's on the top of their 'get em' list.

So, in short.  I have a new weight number, given by the surgeon, that I can "safely" get down to without worrying anyone. I'm to follow this new gluten free and vegan diet, STRICTLY, for 6 weeks with absolutely NO cheating...:(. As well as I have to have a scope done to check for any ulcers and THEN I should be a happy, in less pain, girl again.  Eventually... I hope!
Although right this second, I am just hoping that this is honestly the REAL reason, I have been going through so much hell in the past year and I am not just jumping through even more annoying hoops in the search for my answers.