Saturday, March 29, 2008

It's Okay...

Life is never dull, is it? The damned celiac causes such a nasty reaction when Daniel is glutened. I kept telling Matt to get Daniel to sip some soda, and Daniel kept saying that his stomach hurt too much to take a sip. I finally told him to just take a swig and hold it in his mouth for a minute. Let the sugar cross the membranes -- it would help keep his blood sugar from dropping precariously low. That, plus a pixie stick, kept him out of the hospital last night.

The worst was that Daniel felt so damned guilty about this. He asked the food vendor about the lamb he ordered, but didn't think to ask about the rice. And even though what I think of as *real* rice pilaf does not have pasta in it, the rice he ordered must have had it. They put in pasta that looks like pine nuts.

I told him that it is certainly a lesson learned, and I'm sorry that it was such a tough lesson. But that he has to remember that 95% of the people he asks about food will know nothing about gluten. Or they may think, "yeah, I know someone who can't eat bread." But they won't think about pasta, or soy sauce, or barley malt, or some of the other things that can cause a reaction. So Daniel has to be on top of all this information, or just go to a place that advertises gluten-free food.

It sucks, and it's more than he should have to deal with. But the good news is that he was able to get some sleep after midnight, and was fine at breakfast. He had a low after breakfast, but a minor one, and moved on. He's with the gang, field-tripping through Boston, having a ball.

8 comments:

meanderings said...

Glad to read that he's ok - I could only imagine your panic.

Anonymous said...

great news :)

k2 said...

Happy to hear that your all doing better!
Diabetes lessons can be tough ones, but he will take what he learned from those lessons and apply then to his life as a whole.
k2

Shannon said...

After reading your posts and reading posts on other blogs, I couldn't believe how many things have gluten that I never dreamed would have it...like Twizzlers.

What a headache.

I'm glad he's having fun. I live only an hour away from Boston!!

Anonymous said...

Ugh. I have been lucky and have not been glutenized in...8 months? Longer? I'm 23 and have been diagnosed since 16 so it has just gotten easier and easier.
That said, being a little kiddo and having celiac must be sooo hard. Poor guy!

Jillian said...

Good to hear. I'm amazed by how many things have gluten in them. When I see those little Gluten Free labels on certain items I'm always a bit perplexed. Who would even think about gluten in things like juice or ketchup?!

Penny Ratzlaff said...

I'm glad he's better and didn't have to go to the hospital.

Naomi said...

All's well that ends well. Daniel and Matt are on their flight home, and there's a fresh batch of gluten-free empanadas and chocolate chip cookies ready for school lunches this week.