One LONG Update

Wow, I have so much to write about, I don’t know where to start… so I guess I’ll begin with Monday! We got everybody up & around and went to the Memorial Day Parade in the morning… It was a beautiful day - perfect temperature & just beautifully sunny all day! They passed out little flags and Chloe enjoyed waving hers back & forth when the bands marched by playing their music. Overall, though, Chloe was very subdued the whole parade - I think maybe it was just too much for her to take in and she was on overload! I’m not so sure she liked seeing the HUGE fire trucks which were honking their horns and turning on their sirens every few seconds - I think it may have been a little too loud and the trucks a little big for her to handle! She didn’t cry - but she didn’t look exactly happy either! hehe. Anyhow, after the parade, we walked to Dave’s house, who is from our Church and has been working for Chris since back in March, since we had to drop off his paycheck to him. He is really nice & so is his wife, and they have a little boy who is 6 years old, who is just the nicest & cutest kid ever! They live along the river and so they have tons of property and this HUGE hill behind their house which you can run down… and Chloe just loved it. We were gonna’ just drop off his check and go home, but we ended up staying for an hour! It was just SO beautiful outside! And Maya slept the whole morning so it was a relaxing and fun time. Then we went home and had lunch and took naps and then went to Chris’ parents for a cook-out & to celebrate his Dad’s birthday. That was fun, too…

Yesterday Chris went back to work and it was just me and the girls again… And the guy came and measured for the new carpet (not sure when that’s getting installed yet, though). And Chris also bought a swing set at Home Depot! YEA - finally! It was around $300 or so - just for the basic 3 swings and a slide.. But he hopes to pick up the wood and everything sometime this week and start to put it together - so hopefully by Sunday we’ll have a swing set for Chloe to play on! How exciting!

Yesterday Chris also got a call from the doctor’s office (the specialist); they were calling about Chloe’s test results from last week. She doesn’t have cystic fibrosis, however, part of the blood test indicated that she might be positive for celiac disease. But they said it could be a ‘false positive.’ Here’s a definition of celiac disease in case you haven’t heard of it:

Celiac disease is a disorder that causes problems in your intestines when you eat gluten, which is in wheat, rye, barley and oats. Gluten damages the intestines of people with celiac disease. This damage keeps your body from taking in many of the nutrients in the food you eat. These include vitamins, calcium, protein, carbohydrates, fats and other important nutrients. Your body can't work well without these nutrients.

Celiac disease runs in the family. If 1 member of your family has celiac disease, about 1 out of 10 other members of your family is likely to have it. But most people who have disease are not aware of it.

People with celiac disease carry higher than normal levels of certain antibodies (anti-gliadin, anti-endomysium and anti-tissue transglutaminase). Antibodies are specialized proteins that are part of your immune system and work to eliminate foreign substances in your body. In people with celiac disease, their immune systems may be recognizing gluten as a foreign substance and producing elevated levels of antibodies to get rid of it.

A blood test can detect high levels of these antibodies and is used to initially detect people who are most likely to have the disease and who may need further testing. To confirm the diagnosis, your doctor may need to microscopically examine a small portion of intestinal tissue to check for damage to the villi. To do this, your doctor inserts a thin, flexible tube (endoscope) through your mouth, esophagus and stomach into your small intestine and takes a sample of intestinal tissue.

So to be absolutely sure whether Chloe has this disease or not, they want to do the biopsy discussed above… As soon as Chris told me this over the phone I said “No!” I didn’t want to think about my poor daughter having to be put to sleep and have a tube inserted in her and all this stuff. Chris and I, as well as other members of our family, have just been convinced that nothing is wrong with Chloe and we hate that she has to go through all these awful tests. Chris called the family Dr. to get her opinion on this biopsy and she said we should really have it done, to rule out whether or not she truly has it. If she does, it could already be causing terrible damage to her intestines and her body. Now that I’ve done more research today, though, I am leaning more toward having the test done. I spoke to the priest here at work and she said she had the test done herself and it is very quick and painless. So basically she suggested we have the test done on Chloe, too. At least we won’t have to wonder anymore if something is wrong with her, then.

So that’s the update on Chloe’s health. Though that sort of stressed us out yesterday, we had a fun evening - playing outside as a family & even going on a walk! And we hung out and got to know our neighbors better which is always fun. Chloe loves playing with William, a little boy who lives across the street, who just turned 3. And William also has a little sister who will be 1 in July, and she is just adorable! And then next door to William is a little boy named Jackson who just turned 1 in March!! So it’s fun -- all of us parents talking, while our kids run around in circles in the front yard. hehe. Last night we were outside till almost 9:00!! It stays bright so late now and the kids just love playing while we all hang-out, so we just lose track of time! I think we’re going to invite them all over for a cook-out sometime, which will be nice.

Tonight we are meeting with our Pastor to discuss Maya’s baptism on Sunday. P.S. We finally figured out our menu for brunch after the service, so that’s a load off our shoulders! Chris knows the chef’s at the country club, which is where he worked as a chef in high school… and so they are giving us a deal and we’re having our little brunch catered by them! How fun is that!? It will be so nice to not worry about anything, or have everyone bring a dish or what-not. I’m sure it’s going to be a delicious meal.

Well, I think I’ve written a long enough update for one day!! Hope your week’s going well!