for the Huz....just because :)

Red Le Creuset pan - $120.00

(whaaat? for a PAN???..says the non-cooker)

Kitchen Tongs - $10.00

(I'm guessing....?)

Organic chicken from Nob Hill - $ 7.00

(sounds like a lucky number, anyway)

Coming home from a Hula session last night to a yummy, gluten-free, casein-free, everything but delicious-free chicken dinner........

(Come on, you know what to say.....) :)

AFP Tablets

During our last meeting, Dr. Mielke gave us these tablets for NBear - being that her allergic reaction to gluten was higher than what the Doc had expected.

They're chewable, so easy for my "I-can-swallow-capsules-now-anyway" big girl to take. (try saying THAT 5 times in a row!) :)

They're nice to have, considering any possibility that she may ingest any type of gluten or casein. They also came at a perfect time, because we were planning our summer destinations: Monterey (*check!) and Disneyland in Anaheim. (Thought I'd add the city in, lest you thought we were insane enough to bring all three munchkins to Florida!)

She took two tablets after Monterey because we didn't pack her her usual gluten-free lunch (I had to endure the Huz's evil eyes because it was my suggestion that we try to survive without it). Fortunately, the cafe had hot dog and french fries available. Sans bun, of course. Still, we were being overly cautious.

It's just nice to know that these pills - and this website! - exist.

Pass it on!

Miso Happy!

First of all, sorry for the (almost) obvious tribute to THAT song when I wrote the title for this post. It's time to clear your minds now, and focus! :) (You can always sing the original version later)

Your task for today is to find the magical phrase on the box that means "NBear can eat this!" *see it yet? It may be a bit blurry - I'm no Annie Leibovitz*

Of course, we also have to watch out for EGGS, but this pack didn't contain any! Words couldn't describe how happy the Huz was when he came home and presented this box to me. After all, he knew - just like I did, how much his NBear loooovvvveeeessss this soup....when accompanied with a mountain of white rice.

As they say in my grandmother's country, Itadakimasu!!!

Order UP!

FINALLY - this non-cooker has found her

saving grace!

Some of them are even EGG-free! Yessssssss!!!!

I'm okay! Really.....I.....am....

Our minds are so full of information right now, it wouldn't surprise me if brain matter started oozing out of our noses.

Meeting #2 with Dr. Mielke was all about answering our questions (phase 1), going over the lab results (phase 2), and getting the rest of our pharmacy goodies (phase 3) - all in a mere two hours. Needless to say, phase two was my least favorite:

So - she hands us a stack of papers and said they were NBear's lab results. You're kidding, right? - sneered my inner dark self - this REAM looks like the rough draft of the book "War and Peace"! We're going through all of this? Shouldn't you have allotted 6 hours, then? How could 1 stool sample, 1 hair sample, and 3 urine samples have come to this? *side: I must remind myself to post about THAT experience as well! We could all use a hefty laugh.* Alas, all I had the strength to say was, "Oh." Here is what we (hubby and moi) were told, or rather, how we understood what we were told:

*NBear had some serious viral issues - results showed that her digestive tract tissues had some serious inflammation going on

*As for food allergies, our hearts sank when EGG WHITES and YOLK were on her "not-to-eat" list. There go the morning over-easies, the gluten-free cake mixes.....*sob*....also on the list was wheat, rye, cow's milk, and our good friend, gluten. Incidentally, her body's reaction to gluten was so high (she scored a 0.859 on a scale of 0-1!) that Dr. Mielke wondered if the poor child could possibly even suffer from celiac disease. (same link, but look at the 5th paragraph. *lol* Notice the last sentence there? I hope the Pope plans on hiring some people from the "Gluten-Free Eucharist Ministry". Soon.)

*Yes, metal toxins - mercury, lead, arsenic - were still an issue. Chelation was definitely going to have to happen, if we wanted to move forward. I'm not going to lie about my fear of chelation. How can I possibly be 100% FINE when there are things like this and this? OMG. We did receive a test kit - called the Challenge kit - to see if NBear would have a "positive" reaction to the chelator known as DMSA. (I'm assuming that "positive" in this context does not mean happy faces and plus signs, but rather if:

1) she is willing to take the chelator orally, despite the fact that its sulfuric content matches that of a rotten egg...in both smell and taste, I may add. *clearly remembering Dr Mielke's face as she stressed the words "...it...tastes....hooorrrrriiiibbbllleee!"

2) she does not have a bad reaction (a bad reaction to ingesting rotten egg-like powder? Now who ever heard of such a possibility?)

3) it works for her. Alas, some chelators can be picky with the metals they choose to adhere to, and may not secrete them as planned. Let's hope NBear's metals are high on the attractive list .

Would it be so bad to ask all of you who read this to please ask the big G-man (aka J-man, HS-man) to keep her in mind when I administer the test tomorrow? *groan* I'll also have to follow her around for 6 hours after the capsules are taken. Just call me Princess Urine-Collector. *Where's the catheter when I need it?*

***Last Word:
~ Two teary tantrums and one "woe-is-me" speech to hubby later.......and I am fine. really.
Did I also mention that my wallet is now concave? That book idea doesn't sound so bad after all.