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Always Praising God

December 19, 2011 by 6 Comments

Isn’t Grace beautiful? I just can’t believe I have a daughter that truly isn’t a baby or toddler or preschooler anymore. She’s growing into a lovely young lady.

God has chosen her to carry the weight of a diabetes diagnosis since February 2009. And He might be giving her even more…but we will still ALWAYS praise Him!

I’ll stop being cryptic and just copy an email here that I sent to our families…

Since Grace’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis in 2009, she has had bloodwork done annually. One of the numbers they test is TTG (Tissue Transglutaminase). It is the indicator for Celiac Disease, which is an autoimmune disease (as is diabetes). Since diagnosis, her TTG number has been high. You might remember that our endocrinologist (i.e. diabetes doc) was initially concerned about it and then not so concerned after a different type of test came back negative. Well, after the TTG levels have stayed consistently high over the last two (almost three) years, our endocrinologist has become more concerned. So, they contacted the Pediatric Gastroenterology office at DeVos. (Can I interject and say PRAISE THE LORD for our awesome medical people here in GR? Seriously, we are SO SO SO blessed to live here with such brilliant people and beautiful facilities.)

We had the gastroenterology appointment this morning [Dec.12], and I’m going to try to summarize what the doctor said.

Basically the only way to officially diagnose Celiac Disease is through a biopsy. So, on January 11, they will put Grace under sedation and put a scope down her throat to look at her stomach and part of her small intestine, and also to take a tiny piece of tissue to biopsy. The actual procedure will take about 15 minutes (though the whole ordeal will be longer with prep and recovery).

Here’s the thing, though. Celiac Disease is what he called a “patchy” disease. So, some parts of her intestines could be affected, while others could be unaffected. And he can only put the scope part of the way down her small intestine, so he can’t get a look at everything in there. So, the biopsy could come back negative right now, and we would monitor her TTG numbers with the endocrinologist, and come back for another scope/biopsy if or when symptoms occurred.

Let me interject here – Grace has no symptoms of this disease (diarrhea, stomach pain, rashes, etc, etc). The doctor said some kids present with no symptoms and high TTG levels, some present with no TTG levels and some symptoms, and some have both. Grace has the high TTG levels with no symptoms, which the doctor said is better for her.

If, however, the biopsy comes back positive for Celiac Disease, the only treatment is a gluten-free diet. That means no wheat, barley, or rye products. Grace is pretty bummed about this, since we really do love our breads, pastas, cakes, donuts, etc, etc, etc. BUT we can still have oats, rice, corn, fruits, veggies, meat, potatoes, etc, etc. Remember, this diet is IF her biopsy comes back positive.

The kicker is that the doctor pretty much made it sound like our girl is going to have Celiac Disease, if she doesn’t already. The TTG numbers are pretty good indicators of that. So, she might have it now, or she might have it down the road a little bit, but either way, it sounds like God is allowing more change in our lives.

But we will still ALWAYS praise Him for His amazing goodness and faithfulness to us. He surely would not allow Grace to have diabetes OR Celiac Disease if it wasn’t for His glory and good, and for Grace’s good, too. We are fully trusting in His provision and strength to adjust in whatever way we need to. He is the One who fearfully and wonderfully created our girl, and He’s the One who will sustain us.

So, I just wanted you all to know what’s going on with her. Prayers would be appreciated! We’ll keep you updated, but shouldn’t know of any results until 7-10 business days after her biopsy on January 11.

And just in case anyone feels bad for us amidst all the yummy treats this Christmas season…don’t! The doctor actually told us to load up on gluten products for now, in hopes of having a better chance of a positive biopsy (if there is something to be found). :-)

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Brain dump

July 23, 2009 by 8 Comments

I am overwhelmed.

I wouldn’t say life with four kids is necessarily any harder, but I would say it feels much busier. I feel like I’m running all day long and cannot keep up with the kids, dishes, laundry, cleaning, organizing, appointments, church, Base Camp, friends, family, cooking, etc, etc…And I fall asleep exhausted (and late) each night with good intentions rolling around in my head for the things I’d like to still get done that night…How do people do it?

I read mommy blogs a lot, and some people make life with kids look like a breeze. My life these days is more like a hurricane!

I dream of being ultra-organized, with a happy, comfortable routine. It hasn’t happened yet. And we face more changes in a month-and-a-half when my sweet girl goes off to kindergarten. *tears*

Part of me loves blogging. I have always seen writing as an outlet, and it’s fun to me to be able to express things in writing.

I think I write better than I talk sometimes.

And this past year of couponing and becoming a frugal mama has been wonderful. Amazing for our budget. Fun.

I want to share the secrets to frugality with others, hence Frugonomics.com. I’m excited to do it.

And I’m a little scared about it.

If I can’t keep up with my life prior to officially becoming a mommy blogger, how will life look after the site launches?

Therefore, after a massively long post (this one), I am going to take a little hiatus. I’m considering a week-long (or longer?) Internet fast to just take the time to catch up on life and seek the Lord about my priorities and the balance (or lack of balance) in my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the Internet. My husband has convinced me of the wonder of technology. Yet, part of me wishes we could go back to the age of writing letters. Real letters. There’s just something special about waiting and anticipating that technology has robbed us of.

That was a rabbit trail.

Anywho, I will now share a bazillion pictures that I’ve been meaning to share for a couple of weeks. (Bazillion is just a rough estimate.)

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Saturday, July 11 – We went strawberry picking. What a gorgeous day! We also got free slurpees at 7-Eleven.

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Monday, July 13 – We enjoyed a wonderful visit from my best friend from childhood, Jana, and her baby, Dominik. It was so nice to catch up with her! (*Picture courtesy of Grace or Caleb.)

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Can you believe I got a picture of both boys smiling?!

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Tuesday, July 14 – Zach and Elyse spent the day here, since Mom and Dad R were on vacation celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary. We had a really good time with Z&E, and they were very helpful! The kids all enjoyed playing with the water guns that Mom and Dad sent for them to play with.

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Z&E forgot their swimsuits at Emily’s house, and they got very wet during the water gun fights. So, I threw their clothes in the dryer and gave them some of our clothes to wear. So this is Zach as “Luke” and Elyse as “Lacey.” :-)

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Wednesday, July 15 (8 years since Luke and I officially started dating!) – We met Emily, Zach, and Elyse at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum to play, and then had a little picnic in the park nearby. Zach spent a lot of time at the table of dominoes.

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Thursday, July 16 through Saturday, July 18 – My first ever garage sale. (That is, the first I’ve ever hosted. Not the first I’ve ever been to, of course.) What a LOT of work! I’m still getting the garage back in order!

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The girls who live next door came and helped out with the sale and the kids. Here’s Dani with Ava. They had fun together. :-)

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The kids had fun goofing around with stuff at the garage sale. Here’s Grace wrapped in baby blankets, playing with this bird that squawks when you squeeze its beak.

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And a picture of 7-week-old Jaden, just because he’s so stinking cute.

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The other three are pretty stinking cute, too!

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Grace had her 3-month diabetes check-up yesterday, and it went wonderfully! Good news – the test results came back, and she does NOT have Celiac Disease! Praise the Lord! Also, her A1C was even better than last time – 7.4 (goal is 7.5 – 8.5). And we signed up for the Intro to Pumping class in September, where she’ll get a practice pump to take home and try out. She decided she wants to get a pink pump, which is actually an option! It’s nice that the technology has come far enough to make them more kid-friendly.

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Meijer trip yesterday – spent $14.97, saved $86.81, earned $5 OYNSO. For this week’s Meijer deals, since I’m too busy at the moment to detail them out, visit here and here.

Okay, folks, if you made it this far, GOOD JOB! Thanks for hanging in there. I will (hopefully) not have that nagging feeling in the back of my brain anymore (at least for a little while) telling me that I need to blog.

I will be back when the time is right!

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Week of appointments

March 31, 2009 by 10 Comments

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Yesterday we had Grace’s first clinical follow-up for diabetes. It was a long appointment (around 2 hours), but it went really well. (Other than Caleb kicking the nurse practitioner – but that’s another story…)

Grace’s A1C levels…This number shows how high or low blood glucose levels have been overall for the preceding 2-3 months (like a 3-month average). The day she was diagnosed, her A1C level was 9.4, which is high, but not too bad because we caught it early. (Some kids come in with an A1C of 14 or more!) Her target range is 7.5 to 8.5, and yesterday her A1C was 7.7! Wonderful! Praise the Lord! The nurse practitioner was very pleased with her blood glucose control.

That was the good news. Now, the possible challenges…

We need to do better with rotating her injection sites. She prefers to get shots in her abdomen, and she’s already building up scar tissue there. So, we are to avoid that area for a couple of weeks or more to allow it to heal. And we need to develop a rotation to keep her tissue healthy.

Also, her bloodwork came back showing high levels of transglutaminase antibodies (yep, had to Google it), which CAN indicate that she has Celiac Disease. It’s basically a gluten intolerance that causes damage to the small intestine. It’s commonly linked to Type 1 diabetes, which is why they screened for it. Now we will have more extensive bloodwork done, and if that still indicates possible Celiac Disease, our endocrinologist will refer us to a GI (gastrointestinal) specialist for a biopsy of her small intestine. If that confirms Celiac Disease, we’ll learn how to live an entirely gluten-free life, which means no wheat, rye, or barley products. This will definitely be a big challenge for me!

I also talked to the nurse practitioner about getting Grace on an insulin pump. She said that some insurance companies make you wait six months from the time of diagnosis before paying for a pump, and we need to take their education classes (two of which we’ve already completed). But other than that, we can pursue a pump whenever we feel best. We’re signed up for the Intro to Pumping class at the very end of this month, and we’ll make a decision after that.

Besides bloodwork and the pump class, Grace shouldn’t need to see the doctor again until mid-July, so that’s great!

Unrelated to diabetes, I had my 33-week OB appointment this morning. Things are going well! Last time (at 30 weeks?), the doctor said that Jaden was still head-up, but today he is head-down! That means he’s getting ready! AHHHHH! I’m NOT ready!!! :-) The three big kids are all sharing a room successfully, and I’ve pretty much finished what I planned to do for decorating their room. It won’t take much for Jaden’s room to be ready for him either. I guess I just need to do a deep clean of our house, finish organizing the basement, freeze some more food for postpartum, figure out who’s going to take care of the kids during our hospital stay (and train them to give Grace’s shots), pack my hospital bag…Okay, I still have a lot to do! And yet, I know that Jaden will come eventually, whether I’m “ready” or not!

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