May = Celiac Awareness Month

May is Celiac Awareness month and our family can attest to the overwhelming need for just that.......celiac awareness. So....what is celiac? I'll attempt, in this post, to give a brief overview of celiac, what it can do/does and the seriousness of the disease. 


Celiac is an autoimmune disorder of the digestive system. It affects 1 in 133 people (celiac.com). I found a rather simple explanation of it on the Mayo Clinic's website: Celiac (SEE-lee-ak) disease is a digestive condition triggered by consumption of the protein gluten, which is primarily (this does not mean only) found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye. People with celiac disease who eat foods containing gluten experience an immune reaction in their small intestines, causing damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients.Celiac disease can cause abdominal pain and diarrhea. Eventually, the decreased absorption of nutrients (malabsorption) that occurs with celiac disease can cause vitamin deficiencies that deprive your brain, peripheral nervous system, bones, liver and other organs of vital nourishment.


Gluten can also be found in beauty and hygiene products. A person with celiac cannot consume food that has had ANY contact - no matter how small - with anything containing gluten. Complications from celiac disease, especially when it goes un-managed, include: malnutrition, loss of bone density, lactose intolerance, intestinal cancers, neurological complications, and dermatitis. 


By itself this is a complicated, frustrating disease. Combined with type 1 diabetes, and it is.....well, more complicated/more frustrating (????). Combine those factors with 14 year old hormones and it's a tough road to be assigned. In short, celiac is a very serious autoimmune illness. You cannot have "a little celiac" and it is not a food allergy. There is no cure. No magic pill or shot. You cannot eat "just a little" gluten (well, I suppose if you are a fan of intense abdominal pain you could). It can only be controlled through diet. Check out Celiac.com or Celiac.org to find out more.  


All for now - and remember......EDUCATE, INVESTIGATE, INCORPORATE.....you never know who you'll help by doing so!


I'll be posting another bit of writing in the next day or so. Sharing some very special words, from some very special and unforgettable little people. 

Dragon Slayers

My birthday and Mother’s Day are both occurring this weekend. Its put me in a reflective mood – reflecting on my life, my life as it relates to my daughters and being a mother. All of which is now tied up in a fight against 2 intimidating diseases – celiac and type 1 diabetes.

I’m a pretty tough woman and that part of my personality – strength in adversity – is something I will admit to being mildly proud of. Still, I find that inner strength is sometimes just not enough when a person…in this case, a mother…… is faced with a direct threat to the well-being of her child(ren).

Like most every mother on our planet, I react like an injured mother bear when either of my daughters is threatened; and threats can take on many forms – human, physical, emotional. When the threat comes in the form of an illness, we dragon slaying, momma bears have no one and nothing to slay in the name of our children. So what the hell do we do then? I’m not sure I’ve entirely figured that out yet. So far my ‘slaying’ methods have included activism, educating, fundraising, empowering my daughter in her personal acceptance of these diseases, quite a bit of sarcasm – and occasionally overreacting. Doing these things has helped, but I find more often than not, I feel very inadequate and lacking in that ‘strength in adversity’ characteristic that I mentioned earlier.

I would love to end this blog post by being able to say that all this reflecting led me to an enlightened state of being. Ummm, no. I’m still stumbling through womanhood, motherhood and wifelyhood (I just made that term up, ha ha) – stumbling head on into mistakes and miracles on a daily basis. And while I would give my life to destroy or take into my own body, the monsters that Nikki has been charged with slaying; I would not give up a second of any part of the last 17 years – the amount of time I’ve spent as a mother.

I wish the entire dragon slaying population of moms a very blessed Mother’s Day.

She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.  She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed;her husband also, and he praises her. Proverbs 31: 26-28

**picture by countocram-deviantart

That's All There Is

It’s been a very eventful week around the Turner home; but I suppose it usually is. My oldest daughter attended her junior prom tonight (something I still can’t get my head around) and she looked, as my kindergarten students would say “like a real alive princess”. I was very proud of me for not being overly ‘mushy’. I almost made it through our entire ‘prom preparation’ without tearing up….almost. I was good until picture time. Amber attended prom with a group of friends she’s hung out with since her early elementary years. One of them has been one of her best friends since about 3rd grade. As her mom and I were taking pictures, it hit me just how close Amber is to being a college bound young lady…..okay, not going there again this evening. Suffice it to say, my Amber was beautiful – and my favorite part of her outfit had to be the hidden cowboy boots – 100% Amber Lee.

 This past Thursday, Nikki was able to come to work with me for an hour or so for Take Your Child to Work Day. One of my sweet kiddos – let’s call her Hermione – had been out sick most of the week. The day before, she had been tested for diabetes. Thank GOD the test was negative. However, the word ‘diabetes’ evidently did not throw Hermione for a loop. According to her mom, she simply replied “oh, I know all about the diabetes, Nikki has that”. When Nikki arrived in my classroom, Hermione was bursting at the seams for some alone time with Nik -- to tell her all about her doctor visit. Nikki was just as anxious to love on Hermione, simply because she was so thankful that this sweet little girl was not going to have to face a life sentence of type 1. By-the-way, it’s worth noting that Hermione is the same age Nikki was when she was diagnosed; I’m sure Nikki was very aware of that fact as well. Anyway, it probably goes without saying that when I looked across the room and happened to catch Hermione wrapping her little arms around my Nikki Mouse’s neck…..I got a tiny bit teary, but just a little.

 Moving on to yet another event worth noting this week – around 3:00 a. m. this morning (or is that now yesterday morning???) I was awakened by the sounds of something falling. Nikki had sudden and intense stomach pains and when she said up in her loft bed she kicked stuff over the edge; which, in turn, knocked all her make-up off her dressing table; which, in turn, gave her mother a giant heart attack. I believe she came in contact with gluten – and was suffering some cross contamination pain. In my sleep deprived mind this morning, I had convinced myself that I somehow caused the cross-contamination THIS MORNING while fixing breakfast, without thinking about the fact that her stomach had actually started hurting in the middle of the night. Not that it makes any difference. I have to say that I am just damned tired of my girl having to worry about any of this. LET’S FIND A CURE FOR ALL OF IT ALREADY!

 Okay, enough of that. I am choosing to focus on the sweet moment s from this week, and that’s all. To loosely quote the final few lines from one of my favorite children’s books …..Both of my girls, once again, made me proud to be their mamma -- and that’s all there is, there isn’t any more.