My Celiac story

It all started the summer of 2008. We had plans to go to Africa for a month long mission trip. Long story short Peters passport got lost in the mail twice. We were waiting for it just an hour before our flight. It didn’t come. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong and it seemed like God just prevented us from going. I was mad and confused.
I tell you all this because this event came right before I found out that I had celiac. It was pretty much right after we didn’t go to Africa that I started having stomach pain after every meal. I felt bloated, crampy, gassy and uncomfortable all the time. I was very lethargic and had no energy. I self diagnosed myself with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I started eating a very bland easily digested diet, which helped at times but not completely.
After a month of feeling physically horrible on a Sunday afternoon I started feeling worse than normal. I felt nauseas and started vomiting and could not get off the toilet. (sorry if that’s too much info) It felt like my gut was twisting and turning. I was due to go to work at Starbucks and had to call out. Peter didn’t realize how bad I was and was leaving to go to a friends house. But I kept getting worse. My legs were cramping up which caused me to fall and I started turning purple. My mother in law (who is a school nurse) was there nursing me but decided I should go to the Emergency Room. So Peter came back and took me to the ER. My first time in the ER and my first time as a patient in the hospital. I was scared and in so much pain.
They said I had something called Intussusception. It is where the intestine telescopes into itself and is most common in babies. They flushed fluids through my system in order for it to correct itself but if it didn’t correct itself they would have to do surgery. Thankfully the fluids worked. They also said I had mono. After two cat scans, 3 days in the hospital and meeting with at least 4 different doctors, they said I probably have celiac disease. I would have to go get tested for it to be sure. They said I was a medical mystery. They couldn’t tell me why I had intussusception as an adult or why I had mono at the same time or why celiac hadn’t effected me before this point in my life. All I know is that I feel so much better when I don’t eat gluten.
The process of eliminating gluten from my diet was actually pretty easy. I’m not a big bread and pasta person anyway and there are so many gluten-free options out there these days. I can eat any rice, corn, quinoa, millet and spelt product. I can’t have wheat, barley, rye, and most oats. When you know that something will make your stomach hurt if you eat it, it makes it very easy to not eat that. At restaurants my options are limited and usually at parties I have to bring my own snacks, but I am so used to it at this point. Yes there are certain things that I miss but oh well. Its not worth the pain. I actually feel like I eat healthier because of it.
Oh yea Africa. So looking back we totally feel that God was protecting me by not letting us go to Africa. If this kind of thing would have happened while we were there who knows what would have happened. I am so glad we didn’t go. Now did the stress of not going bring these things on? Also who knows. God does and I truly feel that he was looking out for me!