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What a difference a year makes......
Sep. 17th, 2014 04:01 pmIt's amazing to me the changes that have happened, both in my own personal world and in the world around me.
On September 17 last year, I realized I was in remission from my arthritis, a remission that as of today, has lasted a year. Two days earlier I'd seen a bariatric surgeon, intent on having "something done" about my weight. I'd not known they expected you to lose at least 10% of what you need to lose, before they'll take you to the OR. It makes whatever procedure they intend to do both simpler and safer. The following morning I eliminated the lion's share of my simple carbs almost all of which were wheat products. Unwittingly, I'd gone almost gluten-free. This was the first remission of my arthritis in direct response to any manipulation of my diet and it was impossible not to notice. A year ago this morning as I sipped my coffee, the question of celiac disease dawned on me, ricocheting around my brain like the clapper in the schoolmarm's bell. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I took the step of eliminating all gluten sources and proved myself wrong. I did have more to lose; my psoriasis. Three weeks later that too had cleared. While I'd had remissions of the arthritis before, this a first for my skin.
Post-blood work, all of it so far negative, my correct diagnosis is probably non-celiac gluten intolerance, but in truth that's immaterial; the treatment remains the same – avoidance of all things gluten.
Has it been difficult? In reality, not really. It's inconvenient, and it means I really have to be careful about what I put in my mouth. I eat essentially nothing I cannot either read the ingredients list of, or speak to the person who prepared it. If I'm not satisfied that nothing of wheat, barley, or rye is in the food product in front of me, then it does not go into my mouth.
My benefit? I got my "get out of jail card" for free. I'm now enjoying the longest remission of the psoriatic arthritis I've ever had and the only remission of my skin disease, since I first developed psoriasis in my early 30s.
Oh, and I'm now 90 pounds lighter.
It was just about this time last year that my husband got a tax refund. The day after the DOMA decision, in June 2013, he refiled our taxes as "married, filing jointly". When we got marriage rights back here in California I expected things to continue moving forward for our community, slowly. With the Supreme Court's "ducking" the issue of marriage equality as a constitutional right, when they overturned proposition eight based on standing (who had the right to appeal the district federal court's opinion, or more importantly who did not) I expected things to move forward slowly. Well, change has been anything, but slow. We rose from 13 states a year ago to 19, and this doesn't include another 15, 4 of which have already had marriages occur before stays went into effect, that are currently working their way through higher appellate courts. I've lost count of the number of times I have looked at the news, only to say, "Well, I see Hell just froze over." If this issue is not back in front of SCOTUS by 2016, if not a year earlier, I'll be shocked.
Last night my husband opened his email, to find a missive from his mother-in-law with pictures enclosed of his new great-niece, my sister's first grandchild.
Somebody, anybody, please pinch me. Hell has indeed frozen over.
On September 17 last year, I realized I was in remission from my arthritis, a remission that as of today, has lasted a year. Two days earlier I'd seen a bariatric surgeon, intent on having "something done" about my weight. I'd not known they expected you to lose at least 10% of what you need to lose, before they'll take you to the OR. It makes whatever procedure they intend to do both simpler and safer. The following morning I eliminated the lion's share of my simple carbs almost all of which were wheat products. Unwittingly, I'd gone almost gluten-free. This was the first remission of my arthritis in direct response to any manipulation of my diet and it was impossible not to notice. A year ago this morning as I sipped my coffee, the question of celiac disease dawned on me, ricocheting around my brain like the clapper in the schoolmarm's bell. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I took the step of eliminating all gluten sources and proved myself wrong. I did have more to lose; my psoriasis. Three weeks later that too had cleared. While I'd had remissions of the arthritis before, this a first for my skin.
Post-blood work, all of it so far negative, my correct diagnosis is probably non-celiac gluten intolerance, but in truth that's immaterial; the treatment remains the same – avoidance of all things gluten.
Has it been difficult? In reality, not really. It's inconvenient, and it means I really have to be careful about what I put in my mouth. I eat essentially nothing I cannot either read the ingredients list of, or speak to the person who prepared it. If I'm not satisfied that nothing of wheat, barley, or rye is in the food product in front of me, then it does not go into my mouth.
My benefit? I got my "get out of jail card" for free. I'm now enjoying the longest remission of the psoriatic arthritis I've ever had and the only remission of my skin disease, since I first developed psoriasis in my early 30s.
Oh, and I'm now 90 pounds lighter.
It was just about this time last year that my husband got a tax refund. The day after the DOMA decision, in June 2013, he refiled our taxes as "married, filing jointly". When we got marriage rights back here in California I expected things to continue moving forward for our community, slowly. With the Supreme Court's "ducking" the issue of marriage equality as a constitutional right, when they overturned proposition eight based on standing (who had the right to appeal the district federal court's opinion, or more importantly who did not) I expected things to move forward slowly. Well, change has been anything, but slow. We rose from 13 states a year ago to 19, and this doesn't include another 15, 4 of which have already had marriages occur before stays went into effect, that are currently working their way through higher appellate courts. I've lost count of the number of times I have looked at the news, only to say, "Well, I see Hell just froze over." If this issue is not back in front of SCOTUS by 2016, if not a year earlier, I'll be shocked.
Last night my husband opened his email, to find a missive from his mother-in-law with pictures enclosed of his new great-niece, my sister's first grandchild.
Somebody, anybody, please pinch me. Hell has indeed frozen over.
