Gabby update

Today we learned a bit more about what might be going on with Gabby. If you missed the last post explaining the trouble she's having, you can find it here.

The nurse called today with the test results from Gabby's 2nd round of lab work. They are mixed. Overall, just about everything was within the range of normal. Two things came back slightly abnormal. The first is her agi level (I believe this is an allergy indicator, but Shaun was on the phone with the nurse when she said this) for egg whites. The second is her gliadin level. Gliadin or gliadin antibodies (again all over the phone so forgive me if I'm not completely accurate) is an indicator of gluten sensitivity or celiac's disease. Her level is 15. Normal is below 11. High is considered over 17. So she falls right in the middle, gray area.

Her gi recommends an upper endoscopy or scope where she can be examined internally and have biopsies taken for more accurate examination. The main reason for the scope would be to obtain biopsies to test for an absolute diagnosis of celiacs or gluten sensitivity. After a minor freak out and one or two, okay several, chocolate peanut butter v-day treats (I'm such a stress eater), I put a call into Gabby's pediatrician for guidance as to where to proceed. Our pediatrician is wonderful and I knew that she would be completely honest with me about whether she feels like a scope is the way to go or an aggressive and unnecessary treatment.

After reviewing the findings and discussing with me, she believes we should have Gabby undergo the endoscopy in order to know with certainty what is going on. She said we go wait 6 months doing what we have been or we could attempt to remove our whole family from gluten and see what happens. However, since this problem has been going on for 4 months now she doubts it would get dramatically better. And because going off all gluten is very difficult in terms of cooking, she thinks its an unnecessary hardship to undergo unless we know it is the best thing for Gabby.

So, March 9th my baby girl will be facing another medical procedure. And as her mother, I'd like to offer some sacrifice in order to avoid my girl having to go through anything else. Yes I realize I'm being quite a baby myself in making such a big deal about this. Its just awful. Kids should be carefree and healthy! All the time!

I will be getting in touch with the nurse again in the coming days to discuss specifically what to expect when we go in March 9th. I've had 3 upper endoscopies performed, but I'm not sure if they differ at all with children and want to prepare Gabby.

Again, thanks for all your encouragement. After the last post about Gabby, I received so many emails and facebook messages offering prayers and concern. It means so much! We have the best friends anyone could ask for! A special thanks to all my twin momma friends. Its such a blessing to have a big group of you girls encouraging me so I can be my best for sweet Gab. Like another friend always says, twin momma friends are one of the best, most suprising blessings that came along with my double blessings. :)