It was a moment of tears when I found out that my 8 yr old had Celiac...I really thought that, since we hadn't heard results of the biopsy for over two months, that she was ok..no news is good news right???WRONG! she had celiac and the Dr wanted me to come in so he could tell me so in person..I could not...hubby just started a new job, I run a family daycare...NOT gonna work...so he FINALLY relented and told me over the phone. I researched immediately and found some great blogs and started the painful process of de-contaminating my home...I thought I would only have kitchen issues but MAN was I wrong!!!
First: THE PANTRY... should be simple enough right ? I made the executive decision that we would ALL go gluten free and then our daughter could eat ANYTHING in the home without worry...did I mention she has Down syndrome AND a heart condition...just one more thing to add to the list of ways to curb her independence :( SO...as I went through the pantry there were things that I figured would automatically be right... rice crispies (wrong...malt) and cornflakes, oatmeal, cornmeal (wrong!!! cross contaminated from other grains during production) would be ok....I also thought buckwheat was bad...Wrong!!! Buckwheat is part of the spinach family. This is where in learned Celiac LESSON NUMBER ONE :READ THE LABEL!!! Even some products that are originally gluten free can sometimes be changed...or as in the case of Fry's cocoa..made in THREE different factories...so some are contaminated and some are not...Price Smart Foods was kind enough to let me trade regular products I had recently purchased (I didn't have a receipt) for gluten free products to the tune of about $50 THANK GOODNESS I started to break into tears after the pantry decontamination as I looked and we literally had one bag of rice pasta, prego spaghetti sauce and sugar remaining. The only reason I could keep the sugar was that it was new an unopened ..I mean who really washes and decontaminates a measuring cup or measuring spoon when baking??? all the baking powder, soda, flour, of course, cocoa, cake mixes etc had to go...Day one's seemingly easy process was turning into a 5 hour job so far...my eyes had a permanent squint from reading labels....
After more research I found that any non-stick bakeware, pots, pans etc were also contaminated because the gluten sticks in the cracks...same for plastic serving utensils and cast iron cookware...sob...I actually cried when my bread machine, deep fryer, sandwich and waffle makers had to go....I am grateful that I RARELY used my electric frying pan so it had no scratches and I hope it is ok...also my food processor...having a hard time parting with it but haven't used the part I make breadcrumbs with yet...I was left with two medium pots, one with no handle (New years accident :P ), one large pot and one WOK.
Done??? NOPE! Further research on my part dictated that all personal hygiene products and household cleaners are NOT gluten free...louder sob...Crest products including floss were ok so I got those and THANK GOODNESS pantene shampoo/conditioner plus Dove original bar soaps were safe...not much change there...our dishwasher soap "Finish" was good but the hand soap (we now use sweetwater foam pump and softsoap) and dishsoap (dawn and greenworks are ok) ALL had to go...AS WELL as the nice foamy soap type dispensers because they were contaminated.
NOW I am DONE RIGHT???? NOPE!! School was now the issue. No more playdough, stickers, envelopes, paper mache, paste, etc... unless it was gluten free...no more hot lunch, chocolate milk (the pre-made kind) and crumbs of classmates were now a concern as they all ate and worked at their desks...even inhaled gluten is very dangerous... I spent the rest of that day in tears and crying out for help on facebook...bought some WAY TO EXPENSIVE mixes and lunch items for the next day ...dealt with an angry husband who said HE WAS NOT going to change his diet and HE DID NOT WANT TO HEAR THE WORD GLUTEN ONE MORE TIME.. and cried myself to sleep.
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