We have answers.

Isn't it funny how, sometimes, we pray for answers and then we get them but don't really like the answers that we were given...not sure if it's valid to ask for a second opinion...

Tricia had an appointment with her Allergist today in which they went over some test results from her last visit. We got a definitive answer to our prayers: Tricia has a severe allergic reaction to...cow's milk and all products containing it.

This made some immediate sense as Tricia has always sensed that milk was a bit unsettling to her so she has never really had an appetite for it. Our next question was: if Tricia is allergic to milk, then why does she happen to have a huge, life-threatening reaction between the same small window of the last 5 months (25th to the 6th of each month)? Apparently, Tricia's body has some sort of tolerance level for milk product...up to a certain point. Under her current diet, it generally takes her 4 to 5 weeks to consume enough milk product before her body then has a severe allergic reaction from it.

So it came as no real surprise then to think back to the most severe reaction that she has had--which was this most recent one that led to her hospital stay. The diabetes doctors had her on a very regimented diet and the controlled carbs that they had her consume at every single meal in the hospital was...you guessed it...milk! 1.5 days of milk at each meal and she almost dies from it!

We will continue to be cautious for the next little bit as there are definitely some trace elements of milk product in Tricia's system and the Allergist will continue to conduct a few more tests. This will be a severe change in diet and lifestyle which we are trying to view as a blessing.

The timing of all of this is what is so unbelievable to me...I think many of you remember that Tricia was approved to get an insulin pump to help normalize her diabetes. She started the learning curve for the pump this week (which we are very excited about!). This will allow her to have a less diabetic-like diet. They say that timing is everything...consider this: Can you even imagine having to live off of a strict diabetic diet and, at the same time, not be able to eat milk products! Really, if this were the case, you could basically eat meat and grass. We feel blessed with the timing of all of this as the pump will help Tricia to have a normal diet (minus milk products) now.

Tricia and I wanted to thank all of you for your prayers, thoughts and words of hope and comfort...this has helped to give us hope and confidence. We truly feel like the Big Man has held our hand through this entire ordeal from the move to California to present time. We don't believe that we would have made the tremendous advancements that have been made recently under any other circumstance. Again, thank you.

Bennie
"Sometimes people need to learn to work together and cooperate. This is called sharing. They teach it to kids."--Dwight Schrute

Initially, we were going to try to keep some of this information to ourselves, however, now we feel like it would be best to let everyone know what is going on...

Tricia is about 6 or 7 weeks pregnant. We usually like to wait until closer to the 2nd trimester to announce it but we share it now so that there is a better understanding of our scenario. Apparently, they don't like pregnant women to be on the type of insulin that Tricia is using so they told Tricia to come check into the hospital on Tuesday and stay overnight so that they could monitor the switch. Precautionary mostly. On Wednesday morning they indicated that she would need to stay until Sunday for additional monitoring because the insulin levels weren't balancing her blood/sugar as quickly as they were hoping. Wednesday afternoon, Tricia went into another anaphalaxic shock but this time it was less than 10 minutes from the first itch to being transported to the Intensive Care Unit. They wanted to establish an intravenous bloodline so that she could receive fluids more quickly to her heart if she has another situation...this is a very painful process for Tricia. Three Dr.'s tried to establish this bloodline for over an hour and couldn't. Shortly after, Tricia began experiencing some very painful cramping so they have her on morphine. She has since passed several bowel movements that are 100% blood. So now we are dealing with multiple symptoms and multiple problems from Diabetes, pregnancy, bloody bowel-movements and severe reactions to something along the way. We are quite nervous about losing the pregnancy because of the location and severity of her cramping but Tricia remains our main concern.

This whole thing is even more difficult due to the precautionary measure the hospital is taking due to the H1N1 virus as childrenn under the age of 18 are not allowed inside the hospital. This means that Tricia hasn't seen the kids since Tuesday morning. The kids don't understand why mommy can't come home and dad is gone most of the time. We feel very blessed in so many ways: Tricia's parents are here to help and I work immediately next to the hospital.

We appreciate your prayers very much.

thanks



Bennie