Kennedy's Check-up

Today we took Kennedy to see Barbie Doherty, CRPN for her 3 month check up.  Since our last appointment in April we have taken Kennedy of soy products.  We have been seeing Dr. House for a second opinion.  Kennedy has grown 1/4' and she looks so healthy.  Barbie was impressed and said that in the 18 months that she has been seeing Kennedy she has never had normal bowel sounds and today she did.  We are going to continue on a gluten/soy free diet and have another follow up in September.  Towards the end of the end we will plan on taking Kennedy back to repeat the biopsies of the colon.  We are thankful that we finally seem to be going forward.

Yummy Sloppy Joes

I used the bun recipe from Kinnikinnick.
Ingredients


1 pound lean ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard

3/4 cup ketchup

3 teaspoons brown sugar

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1.In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, and green pepper; drain off liquids.

2.Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Not a good specimen

Got home from work today and had an email from Dr. House stating that the lab had called her and we have to get another sample because we didn't have enough in the 3 vials we had to send!  Really?  WHY ME?  So now we have to start over and this time we need to make sure we do it right.  I will pick up another sample box next week and I am hoping that it doesn't take 2 months again.

Double Check the Food

When I went to pick Kennedy up from the daycare the babysitter had been concerned because Kennedy had really bad diarrhea.  She had noticed on the ingredients of the blue corn tortilla chips that they had soybean oil.  WHAT?  The night before we had went to the store and Kevin grabbed the Tostitos Blue Corn Chips.  Kennedy had eaten these chips for the last two days!  The Tostitos have soybean oil but the Tostitos Natural do not.  AHHHHH!  Will this ever get easy?

Finally got our stool sample!

When we saw Dr. House in May and she ordered a Comprehensive Stool Analysis on Kennedy.  We have been trying really hard to get the sample, but Kennedy has not been to excited to let us do it.  Finally tonight we got the sample and should have the results in 2 weeks! 

Comprehensive Stool Analysis with Parasitology Test (x3) (CDSA or CSAP) evaluates digestion and absorption, bacterial balance, metabolism, yeast levels and the presence of parasites. This test is used in to evaluate the cause of various gastrointestinal symptoms, or systemic illnesses, whose origins can be traced back to parasites or intestinal dysfunction.

Gastrointestinal (GI) complaints are among the most common reasons that patients seek medical care. Symptoms associated with GI disorders include persistent diarrhea, constipation, bloating, indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome and malabsorption. The Comprehensive Stool Analysis with Parasitology x3 may be used to assess digestive and absorptive functions, the presence of opportunistic pathogens and to monitor the efficacy of therapeutic remediation of GI disorders.

The Comprehensive Stool Analysis with Parasitology x3 is an invaluable non-invasive diagnostic assessment that objectively evaluates the status of beneficial and imbalanced commensal bacteria, pathogenic bacteria, yeast/fungus and parasites. Precise identification of pathogenic species and susceptibility testing greatly facilitates selection of the most appropriate pharmaceutical or natural treatment agent(s).

Kinnikinnick Buns

Tonight I made the Kinnikinnick buns.  It was super easy all I needed was milk and mix.  The buns were excellent!  I am going to try to make sloppy joes next week. 

No good flat bread

Well today I was so excited to try this new flat bread that I bought at the Boise Co-op.  I made the 6 inch subs and it looked and smelled great.  Not so much when we ate it.  It was really like eating a thick rubber band.  Not going to buy this.

CHECK THE INGREDIENTS

So my Mom and Dad took the girls to get pizza on Friday.  They went to Chicago Connection because they have a gluten free pizza.  We usually don't eat out because of the risk of cross contamination.  My Mom asked the waitress if there was soy in the crust and they looked over the list of ingredients and told her that there wasn't.  So Kennedy had pizza on Friday and ate the rest of the pizza on Saturday.  Sunday Kennedy had diarrhea and I couldn't figure out why.  On Monday my Mom took the girls shopping and decided to go to Chicago Connection for lunch.  She asked the waitress again to check the ingredients for soy.  She came out and told my Mom that there was soy flour in the crust!!!  This is why we don't eat out.  The employees at a restaurant should be more trained and aware of food allergy issues.  Now we are paying the price of eating soy again.

Boise Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis Walk

We did it!  Kennedy's Crusaders raised $1765.00 for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation.  I knew that we had special friends and family and this just proved it.  57 team members showed up to walk the 2 miles to show their support for us.  We had the largest team at the walk! 

We all wore our team colors orange and purple.

There was also face painting.

There were also a lot of games for the kids to participate in.  I think that everyone had fun.

Kennedy's Kindergarten Graduation

Today Kennedy graduated from Kindergarten at Calvary Chapel School.

It has been a tough year and I was so proud of her.

The Class.

Kennedy and her best friend Miah.

The Girls.

NOT SOY GOOD

WOW!!  The more that I investigate soy the more I am going to avoid it for the whole family!  After talking to a friend that has had breast cancer and was told to avoid soy I decided to look further into the effects of soy.  Soy seems to be in everything that we eat!  These are some quick facts that I have found on soy.

Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders. In test animals soy containing trypsin inhibitors caused stunted growth.


Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility and to promote breast cancer in adult women.

Soy phytoestrogens are potent anti-thyroid agents that cause hypothyroidism and may cause thyroid cancer. In infants, consumption of soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.

Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body's requirement for B12.

Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.

Fragile proteins are denatured during high temperature processing to make soy protein isolate and textured vegetable protein.

Free glutamic acid or MSG, a potent neurotoxin, is formed during soy food processing and additional amounts are added to many soy foods.

Soy foods contain high levels of aluminum which is toxic to the nervous system and the kidneys