Living With Celiac's Disease

It's been a couple of months since Austen was diagnosed with Celiac's and I have to say that he is adjusting quite well.  He's doing great with the eating part and he never forgets that he can't have gluten even when he's at other people's houses.  He really misses chicken nuggets though....I am going to try and find some gluten free breading and see if I can make home made ones.  This whole thing has forced me to learn to bake.  I've made him gluten free banana bread a few times which turned out pretty well, so I decided to attempt to make him some gluten free pizza crust the other day.  I was scared because I've never made dough for ANY reason and I'm not known for my baking skills.  I'm happy to say that it turned out great and Austen LOVED it!!!  I need to figure out how to bake bread and cookies and other treats for him.  Luckily our local grocery store has a big gluten free selection, but I haven't been able to find bread that isn't scary.

The one problem he has with the Celiac's is that he is really afraid of the sickness that comes if he gets glutened.  (I made up that word just now, but it makes sense.)  This fear has lead to some anxiety issues with him.  No kid likes throwing up or having digestive issues, but he is quite fearful of it, so we've decided to take him to a child psychologist to see if he can get some professional help dealing with it.  I know we're probably over reacting here, but I just want to make sure it doesn't get worse.  Plus, it really breaks my heart that he is constantly worried about consuming gluten.  When I made him the pizza he kept asking me if I was sure it was gluten free.  When I told him he could eat it without worrying about getting sick he said "even the crust?"  I felt so bad for him, but Brian keeps telling me I shouldn't pity him or baby him about it, so that's what I'm trying to do.  I have to remind myself sometimes that this is a forever thing for him, so we want him to know how to deal with it now and have him be ok with it on his own terms before he starts real school and it gets more difficult. 

The thing about eating gluten free is that it takes a lot of preparation and planning ahead.  No more waiting until the last minute and then scrambling to come up with something for dinner and no more quick trips through a drive through.  We never really did that a ton, but having that option when you've been busy and your child is starving is really nice.  Now I have to make sure I have things on hand that I can prepare.  It's a lot of work (some days I feel like all I do is food prep) but to see him feeling good again is so worth it!  He has also gained back all the weight he lost when he was sick plus 5 lbs, so obviously the new diet is working!

I can't tell you how good it made me feel to see him enjoying one of his favorite foods again!