Better late than never :)

Wow, I can't believe that is has been almost 2 months since I have posted.  Every day I tell myself, I will today and then the day gets away with me.  Then I think, when something big happens I will write.. So anyway, I guess you can say something big happened.  As many of you know, I ended up in the hospital last week.  I went due to chest pains and was admitted immediately.  After several tests they ruled out my heart and the chase was on to find out why I was in so much pain... I honestly thought they would tell me it was indigestion and send me home.   No such luck...  Bottom line was that I had a fractued rib...seems simple enought right...But how I got to that point not so simple.   It seems that once they did an ultrasound and EGD I was diagnosed with a condition called Sprue...my first thought was " What the hell is that?"  and how in the hell does that affect my ribs....so here is the bottome line...  Sprue is basically Celiac disease which is an intolerance or allergy to any and all foods containing gluten which you all know is mostly found in any wheat, rye, barley or other grain products.  According to the doctor this is something I have apparently been battling for years and basically misdiagnosed as either stress or IBS.   Due to the damage the sprue has done on my small intestine I suffered an esophogal spasm which caused the rib fracture.   How, you ask?  Because due to the sprue never being diagnosed it has now caused me to suffer from osteoporosis!  Yes, there it is.  The relation to my chest pains.  I was and am still completely floored.  Mostly because I have been complaining to my doctors for years about my stomach issues and they all chalk it up to stress or other issues and never once in all my 42 years has anyone even attempted to figure out if there was something deeper going on.  So what could have been preventable is now something I will have to deal with for the rest of my life.   At 42, I have the bones of a much older woman and now have to completely change my diet to be totally gluten free.  It will be a struggle teaching this old dog new tricks but just like any other obstacle in my life, I CAN DO THIS.  I had my moments of self pity and wallowing, then thought about all the other people in this world who are so much worse off than me, so this is me shaking off the self pity and will begin the moving on process.  It could have been much worse but thankfully with a few changes I will be as good as new or atleast gently re-furbished.  :)  I am thankful to everyone for all of their prayers and love and support the past few days.  This will be just the beginning of something new and will lead to wonderful adventures....

p.s  I will try to post even when big things aren't happening...Smiles & Sunshine