I have a new job.
(Hooray!)
On my first day, Beth, a neighboring teacher, brought me a cookie. I didn't have the heart to tell her I couldn't eat it. Of course I did tell her about my celiac disease eventually. She showed up about 10 minutes later with a grin on her face and handed me an apple. Beth's pretty awesome.
What's most difficult about my new job is having to re-explain my medical condition. Most people will just brush off my strange eating habits as part of some crash diet, but once in a while someone will catch me reading a label on something like whipped cream - something that you don't normally read - and they start asking questions.
It gets a little easier to explain every time, but it's hard. No one's heard of it, so they're confused and ask more questions, and then I have to see the look of confusion change to pity. The only ones who don't ask questions are the ones who are already dealing with c.d. in their lives.
I don't care so much anymore that it's a part of my life...I just want to be done explaining it over and over again. Maybe I'll just pass out informational 3x5 cards. :)
Mikki-ness
- Mikki Black
- Virginia, United States
- God's awesome, and while I may not be your traditional Christian, God is the center of my everything, pal. You'll have to excuse me for being a fairly normal human in tandem with that.
Add me to your reader, earthing.
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2 comments:
I totally know what you mean...I used to tell Patrick I wanted to do a 3x5 for Ryan for every new doctor, teacher, therapist, person we meet from move to move. Have you seen a big change now that you've removed gluten from your diet? I actually have talked to some people who don't eat gluten because they follow the 'eat for your blood type' book and they believe it's helped tremendously. It is hard to make changes but it eventually becomes second nature. I need that discipline!
Well, Joy, the nice thing about having a somewhat common disease is that there ARE little cards that you can pass out.
Get them (in various languages) at:
http://www.celiactravel.com/restaurant-cards.html
As to seeing a big change, the answer there is YES! Now that my digestive system is functioning properly, the peripheral issues that I was dealing with have all faded. I was having mental, pancreatic, and energy problems in addition to the gastric disruption. That has all faded now, and I'm no longer on any of the meds that I was on before.
I've heard of people who go gluten-free for a variety of non-necessary reasons. I, however, am in full agreement with my doctor/nutritionist: Don't go GF unless you NEED to. It's a huge lifestyle change, replacement foods are often difficult to find, and often the GF foods taste bad or cost a fortune or both. Proper nutrition becomes a factor as well.
The only reason I can do it is that if I don't, I get horribly sick. It's not fun.
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