Shocker...

For a couple of months now, Addi has been complaining about intermittent belly pain.  It hasn't been anything severe and she acts like it's more of a hiccup in her day than anything else...she kind of lays low for 20-30 minutes and then she's back up and running.  And she never missed any school or anything like that.  In fact, it kind of coincided with the start of preschool, so I thought that maybe it was some kind of stress reaction to beginning school and for whatever reason, she was just a little nervous about it.

Over the course of the past couple months, I've had her in to urgent care.  On each visit, an xray was completed which showed that she was constipated.  After the first visit, we made some diet changes, tried pushing more fluids, etc.  After the second visit, we started giving her a mild laxative.

Finally, I was able to get her in to her primary doctor three days ago.  She had actually lost weight since her 5yr old well child check.  So Dr. K wanted to start by running some labs.  She said that with kids who have this kind of persistent belly pain and who actually have weight loss, she just likes to rule out Celiac Disease.  I didn't think much of it...

I received the phone call yesterday that Addi's antibodies came back glaringly positive for Celiac.  I was floored.  I was at work when I received the call and immediately I couldn't focus.  I was sad.  I was angry.  I was in disbelief.  I was worried.  I was many, many other things.  As it turns out, the pediatric GI doc was coming into town yesterday (she does outreach services here).  They were able to get us in right away.  So I left work and pulled Addi out of school to see this new doctor.

Dr. C gave me some information on Celiac Disease and we talked a bit about it.  Because having celiac disease would be a lifelong dietary change and because she is so young, the doctor wants to do some further testing to be 100% sure that this is what we're dealing with.  I actually put Dr. C on the spot and asked what the likelihood is that Addi's lab results gave us a false positive.  She said that with as high as Addi's values are, the probability is extremely low.  Bummer.

So that's where we stand.  I'm still experiencing a large range of emotions.  At one moment I feel so defeated, sad and angry.  The next moment I feel like this is just another *little* hurdle in life and I look forward to the challenge of helping Addi on this journey.  But not long after, I feel helpless once again.  Oh yeah...the whole family also has to be tested because celiac disease has a genetic link.  Since I was already in the office today, Dr K (the girls' pediatrician) ordered the labs for me.  So I should find out in the next couple of days about myself...and in all honesty, I'm actually hoping that I have celiac as well.  Then I can help normalize it for Addi - "see, mommy can't eat gluten either, you're not alone."