Melissa Writes

I’m having some major issues this afternoon.  I half way skimmed an article that came through my twitter stream this morning.  I blew off as an uneducated post and went on.  Then came the flood of people up in arms over said article.  Ok, now I had to go back and read it and the comments to it.  Now I’m upset.  You can read it here.

Idiots, all of them are idiots, well maybe not all of them but a good stinking portion of them are.  I don’t know one person suffering from Celiac that if given the choice wouldn’t give it all up for a slice of pizza and a cold beer from any place they wanted it from.  It’s not about moderation.  It’s not some fad diet.  It sure the hell isn’t because Elizabeth Hasselback wrote a stinking book!!!  It’s a real issue that effects not only the suffer but also the family of the person with Celiac.

Five years ago I met my husband, he told me he had Celiac.  I smiled nodded my head and went on about my business.  I later asked what that meant and he told me he couldn’t eat wheat but he wasn’t following the diet.  Oh ok, no biggie then.  I found out that he didn’t like a lot of my favorite things, he didn’t like pasta, he only ate pizza once in a great while, sandwiches were evil unless they were made from cracker like bread and loaded with as much filling as it could hold.  I could adjust, he loved my chicken and noodles, ate my baked foods like they were going out of style, and thought fry bread was the greatest thing every.  We got married and six months later we were in the doctor’s office.

It was the scariest thing in my life, ok not really but it ranked right up there.  One Sunday while I was watching a Nascar race, he was outside doing yard work.  I didn’t think anything of it.  A while later his nephew walked in with him they chatted for a while and the nephew left.  A few days later, I was finally let in on why the nephew walked him into the house.  He had collapsed in the yard.  I made a doctors appointment and we went.  It was now ten days after the collapse.  Blood work was done, EKG strip ran, full physical completed.  A few days later we got the results, the blood work showed major muscle damage, like a heart attack, but no heart damage.  He needed to see some specialists for testing.  He took the stress test and passed it with flying colors.  He went through all the testing for MS and Lou Gehrig’s Disease.  They all came back negative.  He was still having horrible pains in his arms and legs.  The doctor said he was fatigued and dehydrated.  I didn’t buy it.

I started researching, low and behold his symptoms went hand in hand with Celiac.  I was relieved I now knew what was causing it. When he came home from work that evening, I told him about my discovery.  He was happy to know too.  He wasn’t ready to go back on the diet though.  Then came the flare from hell.  It went for days.  He a few days into it and he said, “I’ve got to go back on the gluten free diet.”  I sat down at the computer figured out what I needed to started ordering stuff and removing offending things from our kitchen.  I was happy to have an active healthy husband again.  Food was hard to get a hold of but as time went by things got easier to find.  Tasty alternatives to bread and pasta were being stocked in regular grocery stores.  Wal-Mart went from one of my least favorite stores to one of my favorites.  The fact that they labeled their food gluten-free was worth shopping there.  I became an advocate via the net for education in Celiac.

Now that all seems fine and dandy right?  Our lives were back to normal thanks to a diet change.  He was happy that there were options available that weren’t there when he was first diagnosed.  It didn’t seem so restrictive.  The options were varied, available on the regular grocery store shelves, there are a handful of ready to eat dinners we can store in the freezer it’s not so bad.  I started this blog to share my thoughts, joined twitter where I have a group of celiac friends, and even started another website to share local dining out options with fellow celiac families.

Then today I see that all the work that myself and others have done to get the word out is being made fun of.  Comments to that article are cruel and ignorant at best.  People saying it’s all in the head, moderation is key, ect.  I gave you a general overview of my journey with a celiac husband.  If you want to stop reading now, do so because the next part is going to be graphic and gross.

Remember when I said earlier he got the flare from hell?  Let me describe it.  He couldn’t sleep in bed with me.  He had diarrhea so bad it was like water.  He couldn’t relax or it would just run out.  Nothing he ate stayed in his body with in moments he was in the bathroom.  The longer it went on the weaker he got.  No sleep, dehydrated, and no nutrients equalled a grouchy husband.  He couldn’t stop it and that’s why he went back on the diet.  When he wasn’t on the diet every time he ate something with gluten in it this would happen for a couple of days.  Then after being gluten free for a couple of years, it happened.  He got accidentally glutened.  He told me that evening that he was sure he had gotten into something.  We both figured it would mean a few days of bathroom time and both blew it off other than to make note of what we were sure was the offending food.  The next day I got up for work, woke him up and he was complaining his shoulder hurt.  Still I thought nothing of it and went to work.  At 10:00 AM he was on the phone asking me to come home.  I was there within minutes, I work less than two blocks from home.  By 11:00 AM we were in the emergancy room with a outlook of a heart attack.  I called his mom at work and she came to the hospital as quickly as she could.  His dad was on his way too.  I told the doctor that he was Celiac and to please make sure any and all drugs given to him were gluten free.  The blood work finally came back no heart attack.  I was thankful.  Hours later after all the testing the doctor came in and told us the news.  There were four things that could cause what he had, a heart attack, an esophageal spasm, something I can’t remember, or Celiac.  Since the other three things had been ruled out it had to be the Celiac.  We were relieved to know that was all it was.  He spent the next month at the chiropractor though.  His stomach had cramped so hard and so bad that it dislocated his shoulder.

After reading all of that if you honestly can say that he would be fine if he just moderated his gluten intake you can think that.  I can’t change your mind.  He will not go back to eating a little gluten here or there.  It’s not worth it.  Until you have lived with someone who has it, you’ll never fully understand.

Well, well, well I haven’t been writing weekly like I wanted to.  It’s been an odd summer.  Let me get you caught up quickly.

I bought a gluten-free bread book a couple weeks ago.  I’ve read it cover to cover twice.  I’m now ready to make the leap and buy a bread maker, something I swore I’d never do when I baked with wheat.  I’ve made cinnamon rolls from the book.  I was not thrilled.  The bread portion wasn’t bad, they just didn’t have the cinnamon flavor I was looking for.  I’ve got a few ideas bouncing around on how to fix it.  When I get it right, I’ll post pictures.  I’m not showing things that don’t look good.  Amazing part of them, the butter soaked in.  That’s right the butter soaked into the bread.  If you’ve been in the gluten-free world for awhile you’ll know what an exciting thing that is.  If not, butter used to roll right off the bread.  You make them in muffin cups, I made the 12-cup version, but my 12-cup muffin tins must be slightly smaller than the recipe author’s.  They went over the top of the pan and were a pain to get out.  I’m going to attempt french bread later this week.  Maybe it will be picture worthy.

My summer addiction came back on TV this past week.  That’s right I am a Big Brother addict.  I don’t know if there is a support group for it or not, but even if there was I wouldn’t want to join.  I enjoy my addiction too much to give it up.  I’m not thrilled that Jesse is back on the show, but I am thrilled that this group of house guests are the craziest I’ve seen so far.  In the short two weeks that they have been in the house we’ve had fights, racial slurs, possible love/sex triangles, and already at least one sexual act under the covers.  It blows me away.  I look forward to the upcoming weeks of watching the show on TV, live feeds, and chatting away at hamsterwatch.com.

Crafting yes that’s a sad face after the word crafting.  I love crafting but I’m running out of room in the house, I need some place to set up my stuff.  I’m attempting to make a quilt, I’ve done it before, the attempt comes in trying to use the kitchen table.  I get the table cleared, set-up my stuff, get a few strips or blocks cut and it’s time to do something else.  When I finally get back to the quilt, the table is covered, my stuff is buried and I’m irked.  I did knit the other night during the commercial breaks of Big Brother.  I’m going to attempt to do that every week during at least one show.  Class will be starting back up and I’ll still be working on the same project I was when class stopped.  I also want to sew some reusable bags for grocery shopping, I’ve got crochet patterns for them but I think I could sew them quicker.

Nascar is starting to irk me.  Why?  Well you’ve got teams wooing Danica for money not talent, a judge over turning Mayfield’s suspension who hasn’t attempted to make the field since, and Kyle Busch acting like he is three I’ve about to give up.  Come on, you can’t win everytime.  It’s bad when Larry Mac is calling you out on the carpet for not giving interviews.  You can read it here.  I agree with everything he says there.  At some point no one is going to want to hire or sponsor Kyle and that’s a shame with the driving talent he has.

I started shooting a girl’s senior photos over fourth of July.  Since I’m not a pro and she’s not totally ready, I get to do a little here and there.  It’s nice.  I was super worried about it but she is so photogenic it’s not even funny.  I’ve had a blast doing it.  I hope she likes them.  I can’t wait to see them all printed.  I’m waiting on my CS4 to arrive.  Then I can have lots of fun with them.  I think I’ll go catch the mail box now.  Have  a great day!

I’ve been going to do this for over a week now, but I’m having now luck with getting time to write. It’s almost midnight now.  Before I get on my rant, let me get this part out I have no problems with female drivers.  I am a female, I want a great female driver out there, and I have done a series on female drivers.  I am looking at interviewing Chrissy Wallace sometime this summer to add to the series.  Now my thoughts and opinions about Danica.

Danica is a gorgeous woman.  I will admit that.  I think that’s what she has going for herself.  I’m not a prude, here’s a dirty little secret of mine, I loved the show The Girls Next Door.  That’s right, Hef’s ex-girlfriends were my second favorite thing to watch on a Sunday.  I just feel that Danica is selling her looks more than she is selling her talents.  That cheapens the whole thing.  It makes it feel like she’s out there for her looks instead of talent.  I have major issues with women being judged for their looks.  There is so much more to a woman than that.

Danica has been consistent in IRL.  I’ll give her that.  Nascar is nothing like the IRL, look at the guys who have made the transition.  Tony Stewart is one of the few in recent years that has been successful.  I’m worried that she’ll be a mid-pack at best driver.  I’m not looking forward to that.  I want a front running woman.  There’s no reason we can’t have one.  I’m just not sold on the idea that Danica has it in her to be that woman.

Why do I think she’s getting romanced by Nascar?  She’s a sponsor’s dream.  She’s going to be bringing big bucks.  Men love her and I’m guessing that they are betting that there are women who will be drawn to her because she’s a female in a male dominated world.  That’s not a good enough reason if you ask me.  I understand that you have to have sponsors in the racing world, it just costs too much money.  I’m tired though of having a bunch of ok, so, so drivers because they can draw big bucks from sponsors.  I would rather have a field of less than forty-three cars that was amazing then a full field of O.K. drivers.  I want great racing again.  I don’t think Danica is going to contribute to the sport in that way.

I also think that this is a way to draw/grab more watchers.  I’m not going to go off on that whole issue, that will have to be another post, catch the Open Letter To Nascar for some of my thoughts on it. I’m sure there will be some come over to Nascar.  Danica has dedicated fans and I would hope that those fans would follow her to the new sport.  I bet a few people will tune in just to see her in action.  I know that I tuned into IRL to see her in action a couple of times.  I’m just not sure if the racing is exciting enough right now to hold them.  I think once you turn someone off it will take a lot to get them back into it.

Ok, so what are your thoughts on it?

I know I promised at least a weekly blog entry.  I also didn’t plan on spending one week in the hospital with grandma and me being sick.  I’m still not feeling great, but while waiting on a computer to update that I’ve been working on I thought I’d tackle a rant.  I’ve been reading a lot about country music and who isn’t really a country artist, who sucks, who real country fans listen to, ect.  Well after listening to my mp3 player tonight, I have figured out I’m not a country fan, I’m not sure what I am.  Maybe you can help.  Here’s who is currently on my mp3 player:

• 3 Door Down
• Alan Jackson
• Alanis Morissette
• Alannah Myles
• Alison Krauss
• Anne Murray
• B.J. Thomas
• Barbara Mandrell
• Beck
• Bellamy Brothers
• Better Than Ezra
• Big & Rich
• Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
• Billy Currington
• Billy Dean
• Blackhawk
• Blake Shelton
• Bo Bice
• Bon Jovi
• Bonnie Raitt
• Boyz II Men
• Brad Paisley
• Brian Setzer Orchestra
• Brooks & Dunn
• Bryan Adams
• Buddy Jewell
• Bush
• Carolyn Dawn Johnson
• Carrie Underwood
• Chely Wright
• Chris Cagle
• Chris LeDoux
• Chris Young
• Clint Black
• Collin Raye
• Craig Morgan
• Creed
• Dan Seals
• Darius Rucker
• Darryl Worley
• Daryle Singletary
• David Allan Coe
• Deana Carter
• Deep Blue Something
• Def Leppard
• Diamond Rio
• Dierks Bentley
• Dixie Chicks
• Dobie Gray
• Dolly Parton
• Don Williams
• Dottie West
• David Frizzel
• Doug Stone
• Eddie Wilson
• Emerson Drive
• Emmylou Harris
• Eric Clapton
• Floyd Cramer
• Foster and Llyod
• Garth Brooks
• Gary Allan
• Gavin DeGraw
• George Strait
• George Thorogood
• Godon Lightfoot
• GreenDay
• Gretchen Wilson
• Guns N’ Roses
• Hank Williams Jr.
• Harry Chapin
• Highway 101
• Jason Aldean
• Jimmy Buffet
• Joe Nichols
• John Anderson
• John Conlee
• John Cougar Mellencamp
• John Denver
• Johnny Cash
• Johnny Lee
• Josh Turner
• Journey
• K.T. Oslin
• Kansas
• Kathy Mattea
• Keith Anderson
• Keith Urban
• Keith Whitley
• Kenny Chesney
• Kenny Rogers
• Kentucky Headhunters
• Kid Rock
• Lady Antebellum
• LeAnn Rimes
• Lisa Loeb
• Little Big Town
• Little Texas
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Marc Cohn
• Marie Osmond
• Mark Chestnut
• Mary-Chapin Carpenter
• Matchbox Twenty
• Meredith Brooks
• Merle Haggard
• Michael Martin Murphy
• Michael Bolton
• Montgomery Gentry
• Nelson
• New Kids On The Block
• Nickleback
• Nirvana
• Oasis
• Otis Redding
• Pam Tillis
• Phil Vassar
• Pure Prairie League
• R.E.M.
• Randy Travis
• Rascal Flatts
• Reba McEntire
• Restless Heart
• Rick Nelson
• Rodney Atkins
• Roger Miller
• Roxette
• Sawyer Brown
• Semisonic
• Shawn Colvin
• Shenandoah
• Simon and Garfunkel
• Sixpence None the Richer
• Smash Mouth
• Soul Asylum
• Steppenwolf
• Steve Holy
• Steve Miller Band
• Steve Warnier
• Sugarland
• Taylor Swift
• The Monkees
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• The Statler Brothers
• The Verve Pipe
• Toby Keith
• Tom Petty
• Tompall Glaser
• Trace Adkins
• Tracy Bryd
• Tracy Lawrence
• Trisha Yearwood
• Twisted Sister
• Vertical Horizon
• Wade Hayes
• Waylon Jennings
• Weezer
• Willie Nelson
• Wilson Phillips
• Zac Brown Band

Well what am I?

I was doing a little google search on celebs that have the dreaded C.  There were like five listed.  I got to thinking why wouldn’t more people be listed.  Well, my number one guess is that people aren’t getting tested because they don’t know they symptoms and other associated issues.  So I’m going to be twittering them throughout the next few days. I’m going to try to post five tonight and five each day until I get them all. Ok so I tried that then realized very quickly it would be this time next year before I got it done.  It’s not that I want a whole bunch of people to have this but I don’t want people to suffer.

What started all of this,  why was I googling it to begin with?  I saw a quote on a message board that really bothered me.  It takes on average 11 years to be diagnosed here in the US.  It takes three weeks to get diagnosed in Europe. ELEVEN YEARS!!! Eleven years to be miserable for no reason other then our medical community doesn’t understand it.  So here we go….

1. bloating, gas and/or abdominal pain
2. Weight loss and fluid retention
3. Heart Failure
4. chronic diarrhea, pale, foul-smelling, or fatty stool, constipation
5. unexplained iron-deficiency anemia
6. fatigue
7. bone or joint pain, arthritis, bone loss or osteoporosis
8. depression or anxiety Behavior changes/depression/irritability
9. tingling numbness in the hands and feet
10. missed menstrual periods, infertility or recurrent miscarriage
11. Muscle weakness
12. Delayed growth or onset of puberty
13. Epitasis (nose bleeding)
14. Hematuria (red urine)
15. No obvious physical symptoms (just fatigue, overall not feeling well)
16. Vitamin B12 deficiency

Now for the issues that go along with Celiac check this link out Celiac Disease.  Yes, all of those things listed go along with Celiac.  So take a moment to read all the links provided there is a lot more information there then here.  If you start to wonder if you do have it go to Celiac Central do the checklist and take it to your doctor.  MAKE THEM DO THE TESTS!

References:

Celiac Central

Medicine Net

Celiac Disease Foundation

Celiac.com

I figured my first post after the holiday would be about my reunion.  It was an exciting thing and I want to share with you all, but my state government has irked the living crap out of me.  I must vent about it.

Here in Kansas, we have a lovely statehouse.  It’s very pretty, has some great historic parts to it.  I also know that with old buildings that you have to do work on them so they don’t fall down around your ears.  I live in an older home, I’ve got that figured out.  There’s one thing that I have figured out that our lovely state reps must not have yet, if you don’t have money for the basics you have to hold off the remolding.

I know the economy sucks right now and that we all have to make sacrifices.  I was ticked off enough about the budget cuts  for education, the lottery was supposed to keep education funded.  Then today on the local news they announce that the state is issuing bonds to cover the renovation to the statehouse.  That’s right, we’ve cut the school’s budgets by $116 per pupil (rumors have it that another $116 will be cut by next year), but approved $38 million in bonds to keep the statehouse pretty.  Ummm….. it doesn’t matter how pretty something is if no one is educated enough to work there.  

Maybe that’s the state’s plan, cut funding for education, students lose out of many things, then when it’s time for them to get jobs they won’t have to pay as much.  I want to reach out and smack someone.  Get a clue!!!!  You can’t be dropping $38 million for a building, when you can’t fund education at the level it has been in the past.

You can read the whole article from wibw.com .  They are my local news channel that alerted me to this….. well….. I’ll let you fill in the blank for yourself.

I’m home this morning.  Grandma isn’t feeling well and the husband had to go to work today.  So I’m here, reading twitter.  I know exciting isn’t it? So I was catching up on all the tweets that had came through over night when I found one about volunteer firefighters being charged with arson.  It peeked my interest so I checked it out. Why don’t you check it out and read the comments Orangeville Volunteer FireFighters Charged with Arson I’ll wait for you before I start ranting.

You back now?  Read the comment about vollies being dogs?  Yeah can you guess what my rant is about now? Some big shot paid fire fighter thinks he is better then any volunteer out there.  I hate that attitude.  Not because I’m a volunteer fire fighter but because it shows that the person doesn’t have a clue about what it means to be a volunteer. You see we have to do the same training that the paid people do, the only difference is we are doing it on weekends, in the evenings after working all day, and for free.  Our shift never ends, we are only call 24/7, 365, rain, sleet, snow, hail, tornadoes, swine flu outbreaks, you name it we are there.  

That guy thinks something like that would never happen on a paid department.  He’s kidding himself.  Do a quick google search, there are plenty of them.  Heck, a few years ago there was someone who had done it in California that wrote a book.  He was the fire investigator.  Anyone else remember the book?

I hope that the man who called volunteers mutts someday needs our services.  Then he will learn that we are more professional than he is.