Crazy is as crazy does

Up until yesterday, I had convinced myself that my kids have Salmonella poisoning, due to contaminated peanut butter products, even though Lizzy has never eaten peanut butter and the peanut butter in the house isn't on the recall list. And these are the times when I know that I am insane.

So I was able to get an appointment with Lizzy's gastroenterologist yesterday, and had to take her for a battery of blood tests the day before. They had to stick her twice in the same arm. She only had one decent vein because of how much diarrhea she'd had. It was a nightmare. And I had the other two with me at the lab, so that was a heap of fun. Meghan didn't want to see any of it. Erin was utterly fascinated. So she keeps popping into the cubicle area asking four hundred questions a minute while two phlebotomists and I are trying desperately to hold Lizzy still. I was somehow able to maintain my patience and composure with the help of other patrons of the lab who were so kind and generous with their time and attention to Erin and Meghan. There are some moments in life when you truly see the goodness of the human spirit. There are a lot of people in this world who will stop and give of themselves just to make someone elses day a little brighter and their load a little lighter. The people in the lab could see that it wasn't the most fun being me, and they treated me and my kids like they had come with me to help me out. It was a sweet moment. I was grateful.

In other news of "Amazing Discoveries," I have eliminated all dairy from Meghan's diet, after noting how much it helped Lizzy, and the most amazing thing happened. Meghan's reflux disappeared! She was clearing her throat constantly, all day and all night, for months, despite being on daily doses of Prevacid and/or Zantac since she was three weeks old. So I got to thinking about the difference a no-dairy diet made for Lizzy's digestive system and reflux and wondered if Meg might benefit as well. Within two days, the throat clearing stopped and she hasn't taken a Prevacid since. According to the doctor, this could be sign of a lactose intolerance, but is more than likely a dairy allergy. I'm suddenly entering a world of which I know little.

I took Lizzy to the GI yesterday and a bunch of stuff came out of it. She needs an upper GI of her small bowel to make sure that she hasn't developed a stricture or narrowing at her surgical site, which could contribute to bacterial overgrowth in her gut. From there, we move on to allergy testing because the blood work panel we ran that came back clear is apparently not sensitive enough to pick up what is pretty clearly a dairy allergy. And then we will possibly be checking for Celiac disease. It's a one-thing-at-a-time kind of scenario, so I shouldn't get ahead of myself with worry and worst-cases. That's what the doctor said.

Isn't that so hard to do, though?

I'm teetering somewhere between a nervous breakdown and "Proactive Supermom," wearing her cape and her "Bring It" tee-shirt. I'm hoping to decide today which outfit I'm wearing. I'm fairly certain it'll be the cape and the tee. It has to be. But my fear wears me out. And does nothing to help my kids. So I will purge the fear, fight it and get to the root of the issues, solve them and continue to move on.

By the by...I am reading Grace (Eventually) and Other Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott right now. I highly recommend it. I am supposed to be reading something different for book group, which meets on Thursday. I will be unprepared. But when we founded our little group, we emphasized the importance of good conversation and good wine being paramount to total preparation about the "assigned" reading materials. So I will be there for the former two, and will happily take in the insights and thoughts of my compatriots.

Stay warm and full of positive energy today. Tomorrow starts another week. And my bathroom will be painted just in time for my Monday morning shower. This is a thrill.