Gluten Free?

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For those of you who have followed my blog or know me, you know I like to cook. Let me rephrase that. I love to cook. We had some friends who used to come visit us periodically when we lived in Chicago, and he was diabetic, lactose-intolerant, and had celiacs disease (allergic to wheat). When I cooked for him, it was a challenge and I learned a lot about food allergies. And after they would leave, I would always count my blessings that we didn't have any food allergies in our family that we had to deal with. Ha. Ha ha.
Wellll. My husband has always had a "sensitive" stomach. That's the nice, not-gross way to say that he has had diarrhea almost everyday as far back as he can remember! I didn't really realize it was such an issue for him. And then when Maddy started running to the bathroom and having diarrhea, I just thought that she had Tad's "sensitive" stomach. I never thought of diarrhea being a sign of an allergy so it never occurred to me.
Tad's cousin also has had this "sensitive" stomach, so we would just joke that it was the Davis sensitive stomach. Well, his cousin either got tested or just decided to take wheat out of his diet, and his symptoms went away! So when Tad heard that, he thought he would give it a try. And wouldn't you know that his long-time pal, diarrhea, went away. He said it is so weird to not have it. He feels so much better. So, I didn't know whether or not to take wheat out of Maddy's diet because, poor thing, she survives on wheat. Ever since she was a baby she has loved tortillas, bread, noodles, bagels, and all things wheat!! But Saturday she had a bagel, sandwich, and hot dog in a bun, and her stomach was not happy. So for the last few days I have taken wheat out of her diet for the most part.
And today, I got orders from our doctor and went to the lab and had the Maddy and Judah's blood drawn to test it for Celiac's disease. So, while I do know some about it since we had a friend who had a severe form of it, and my uncle and cousin have it, there is still a lot I don't know. And I'm not used to having to cook different and leave certain things out, especially in the wheat family. And I'm not sure to what degree each person has it, so I'm not sure what they can and can't eat.
So, where do we stand now? We are waiting for test results for the kids. We should find out this coming week. Tad is feeling better and eating totally different, and I'm proud of him for giving up the things he loves. His mom has even made gluten-free options for him when we have eaten over there, which makes it easier for him. So sweet of her! And you know I will give an update here of what we find out!

So here's to a new journey of cooking differently, shopping differently, and doing some research on this whole gluten-free diet!  I know it's a lot more prevalent, so thankfully there are a lot more options than when it first started appearing!