The lost weekend

So last weekend was the lost weekend. So lost, in fact, that when I got dressed to go to work yesterday (Friday), Rich said, "Are you going to work? Isn't this your weekend off?" and I said, "That was last weekend, but you missed it!"

Last weekend was lost because on Friday Rich went to see a doctor about his ever-lasting cough, and the doctor ordered some tests including a blood test. On Saturday morning Rich went in early to get his blood drawn, and an hour later, he got a call from the doctor telling him that he needed to be admitted to the hospital right away because he was severely anemic!

Rich was so anemic that no one at the hospital could believe that he was still walking, and Rachel told me that she has never even had a patient whose hemoglobin count was so low!

So Rich was admitted to the hospital and spent all day and all night getting six units of blood and watching a Harry Potter movie marathon on tv while relaxing in bed and ordering large meals from room service.

Rachel and I hung around and watched TV and knitted (me), and kept an eye on the medical side of things (Rachel) and Maddy visited Poppy's room, too.

Rich had to be tested to see where all his blood was going since he didn't seem to have any in his body, so Sunday was a prep day for those tests, and then Monday evening he finally was tested, and the doctor came back to tell us that he has Celiac Disease.

When you have Celiac Disease, you are sensitive to gluten in your food, and it prevents you from absorbing nutrients like iron, which is why Rich was so very anemic. Which means that Rich needs to be on a gluten-free diet.

Rich was all groggy from the testing, so he doesn't really remember us getting the news, and discussing the new adventure of being gluten-free. He doesn't remember that Rachel left the hospital to go shopping for gluten-free foods so he would have something to eat at home.

Rich ate a (gluten-free) meal that the nurses ordered for him and waited groggily to be discharged from the hospital and watched Wall-E with Maddy, who was resting happily in Poppy's hospital bed, eating Pringles out of a can.

Rachel came back with Kim and three bags full of gluten-free food they scored at the supermarket, and we spread the loot out on the hospital bed to look it over. She had gotten a wide varity, and it was pretty thrilling to see it all.

The next morning I was at work, and I got a text from Rich aaking me if oatmeal was gluten-free. I texted back that there was instant oatmeal on top of the fridge that he could eat, knowing that I had put it up there when I unpacked the gluten-free groceries the night before.

When I got home a little later, Rich was still puttering around in the kitchen, and I asked him how the oatmeal was. He showed me the oatmeal he had eaten, which was some instant strawberry-flavored regular oatmeal of Kim's! He ate the wrong stuff!

I showed him the correct box so he would know where it was, and he nodded, and asked if he could eat saltines, which is what he normally snacks on while he works.

I said no, but he could eat the snacks Rachel bought for him, and I started pulling them out of the cupboard and putting them in a bag to carry up to his office. He looked surprised to see them, and that was when I realized he didn't remember anything that happened after his tests because he was too groggy!

So I explained about Rachel shopping for snacks, and gave him the bag. Then I opened the freezer and showed him what was in there, because Rachel had also bought him some frozen foods for his lunches. (If you are thinking now that Rachel is a wonderful daughter, you are right.)

He was relieved to see that stuff, because he usually eats a TV dinner for lunch, and he was wondering what he was supposed to eat if his TV dinners were banned!

I told him that while I was at work during the night I had bought two books about living gluten-free and three gluten-free cookbooks, and that there will be plenty of things for him to eat.

So Rich toddled upstairs clutching his bag of gluten-free snacks and I went to bed, and when I got up I made a gluten-free dinner. I made dinner the next night, too, so there, do you see how helpful and supportive I am?

My friends are all being super helpful and supportive, too, because Paula's daughter-in-law is gluten sensitive and Laura's friend is, too, so they are full of suggestions and information. It's an adventure!

Today Rachel slaved all afternoon to make gluten-free Twinkies! They are pretty good, although not so much like a real Twinkie. Maddy carried them to our house in a bowl on her lap, and brought them in and gave each of us an individually wrapped "Twinkie". It was so cute. Then we put the rest of them in the fridge and went out to swing Maddy on the swing, which is all she really wants to do at my house now.

So there you go, the story of the lost weekend.