As a two-year-old, Ann Campanella’s daughter barely registers on the pediatric growth chart, rarely naps and has intense stomachaches after eating. Doctors and well-meaning friends repeatedly assure Ann that Sydney will outgrow these issues. But at the age of five, Sydney finally receives a celiac diagnosis.
Celiac Mom charts the course of one mother who is determined to keep her daughter safe from gluten, a substance that is literally poisoning her. A noncook, Ann must figure out how to nourish Sydney and avoid painful gluten exposures. She reveals the ups and downs of creating gluten-free habits revolving around family and friends, holidays, vacations, school lunches, summer camps and more. As Sydney matures, Ann must ultimately learn to let go and allow her daughter to make her own choices in a gluten-filled world.
Paperback: https://amzn.to/32aQPn
Kindle book: https://amzn.to/2I5djiP
Who should read Celiac Mom:
∙ Parents of children diagnosed with celiac or gluten intolerance will learn the ropes of this journey.
∙ Those considering a gluten-free lifestyle for health or medical reasons will discover ways to avoid wheat and gluten, tips for avoiding exposures, recipes and resources.
∙ People who have celiac and/or already eat gluten free will appreciate the personal stories and support in these pages.
∙ Family members of those who are gluten free will gain a new understanding of what it's like to be gluten free in a gluten-filled world.
∙ Friends of those undergoing a a gluten-free lifestyle shift will learn how to support others on this journey.
∙ Anyone who is curious about what it means to transition to a gluten-free life will appreciate the insight and stories this book shares.
∙ Those who enjoy reading memoirs and being inspired will enjoy this life-changing journey.
Excerpt of Celiac Mom
A few hours still before dawn. My husband and I get up and shower, force ourselves to eat a small breakfast. I gather Sydney, still warm from sleep, into my arms and whisper, "It's time for us to go." She nods sleepily against me, her pale cheeks slightly damp.
I kiss the top of her head as I settle our five-year-old into her car seat. Are we doing the right thing? Will she be okay? Am I an overly concerned mom, putting my daughter through needless procedures? Have I blown her symptoms out of proportion in my imagination: her stomach pain, constipation, inability to nap, her small stature? Maybe all these things are normal, part of raising a healthy child.
This morning, the nurse at the hospital will prep her, and Sydney will be anesthetized. The doctor will take samples of the tissue in her small intestine, send it to a lab, and with any luck, within a few days, we will know whether or not our daughter has celiac disease.
***
I have never been a cook. In fact, Joel and I survived for years on a diet of microwave dinners and takeout food. Most weekends, we treated ourselves with a delicious four-inch high, wheat-bread sandwich made from our local chain whose name had the word “Bread” in it, topping off the meal with a huge chocolate chip cookie made with wheat flour. A few hours later, we’d pick up subs (with whole wheat rolls, if we were being virtuous) or visit our favorite Italian restaurant for plates of baked ziti—noodles made with what else but wheat.
Wheat was our family’s mainstay. We survived on it, planned around it, looked forward to it, even drooled over it. Gluten was a foreign concept. One of those weird words that overly health-conscious people used, people who liked to make others—like us—feel guilty.
All that would change when we learned that our daughter had celiac disease. What does it mean when someone is diagnosed with celiac? In medical terms, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation, when someone who has celiac eats gluten, an immune response is set off which damages the villi (tiny fingerlike projections) in the small intestine. When these villi are blunted, they can no longer absorb nutrients. This leads to autoimmune disorders and other health issues which can be serious such as anemia, arthritis, liver disorders, delayed growth and failure to thrive, to name a few.1
In human terms, my daughter was not being nourished. After breakfast, she’d rest on the couch holding her stomach. Her low energy kept her sitting still and playing with blocks and puzzles, instead of constantly being on the go like other toddlers. An intense heat in Sydney’s body made her kick off her shoes and peel back her blankets, even in the dead of winter. She couldn’t take long naps or sleep through the night—even through the age of five. And most concerning to me as her mother, she was not growing at a normal rate.
For our family, a celiac diagnosis meant that we had to accept a major change in our lives if we were going to support Sydney. Forevermore, I would become a detective on the lookout for any and all foods that contained gluten. It was one of those things that went beyond choice. It was a decision made for my husband and me, knit within our very DNA from the moment we met our daughter in the flesh, before she was born even. She was a precious, new part of our family, a miraculous gift from God. Of course, I would do this and much more. Anything it took to care for her, to keep her healthy, to help her thrive. This was a medical necessity for Sydney. The presence of gluten in her diet was damaging her intestines and keeping her malnourished.
From a practical standpoint, our small family suddenly found itself outside the norm. And it was my job as the mother to help us navigate this transition. We had to remove ourselves from the countless typical routines that involved food. I had to approach each meal with a new set of eyes, an awareness that a poison could be lurking, a food that could undermine my daughter’s health was always close by. I had to figure out how to deconstruct our patterns around the grain my husband and I had spent a lifetime eating and find a way to build new habits and traditions that would not compromise Sydney’s health—and ultimately ours—but instead provide nourishment.
For me, this diagnosis meant spending hours researching on the internet, cleaning out our pantry, setting up boundaries in my mind—not boundaries of resistance and craving, but boundaries that would hopefully bring life and health, energy and growth.
For months, even years, before we knew what was going on, I had spent evenings going over in my mind what Sydney had eaten; I had late-night discussions and arguments over “treats” my husband had slipped her. My mother’s intuition told me that something was not right—horribly wrong, in fact. So, I monitored everything she ate, noted every reaction. I could tell that she felt better when she ate fruits and vegetables, that she became bloated after eating cookies and sugary foods, so I naturally limited those things.
I took Sydney to countless doctors and voiced my concerns over her stomach pains and chronic constipation. “Give her more fiber,” I was told. “Make sure she’s drinking enough.”
When I pointed out that my daughter’s height and weight didn’t even register on the growth chart, I heard, “You worry too much.” One doctor told me, “You and your husband are short.” Joel is 5’7”, shorter than average for a man, but I am 5’6½”, which is taller than average for a woman. I was labeled a “nervous mom,” and my concerns were dismissed. A digestive illness was never considered because Sydney didn’t display the typical signs for celiac, which were constant diarrhea or vomiting.
I spent hours on the internet plugging her symptoms into search engines: severe constipation, delayed growth, sleeplessness, stomach pain, etc. On occasion, over time, certain words like “gluten” and “celiac” showed up amidst a constellation of other health concerns. But it was enough that when a specialist finally told me he wanted to run further tests and perform an endoscopy on Sydney because he suspected celiac, all the disparate pieces of my daughter’s digestive issues and childhood history fluttered around me and finally began to fall into place. It was my first sign of hope.
Ann Campanella, a former magazine and newspaper editor, writes about caregiving on both ends of the spectrum. After her five-year-old daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease, she shared the emotional journey of caring for Sydney and her family’s transition to a gluten-free life in Celiac Mom. Before that, Campanella wrote Motherhood: Lost and Found, a book about her mother’s descent into Alzheimer’s at the same time Ann was trying to become a parent herself. This memoir was named “one of the best Alzheimer’s books of all time” by Book Authority.
Ann’s writing has appeared in literary journals, newspapers and magazines across the country and around the world. She has won numerous awards and been a guest on various podcasts discussing her work. Ann has a degree in English Literature from Davidson College and lives on a small farm with her family and animals in North Carolina.
For more information about Ann and her books, please see: www.anncampanella.com.
Social media links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anncampanella.author
Instagram: @glutenfreeforgood
Twitter: @AuthorAnnC
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-campanella-9927a2a/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1560641.Ann_Campanella
Celiac Mom
By
Ann Campanella
Review
By
Heidi Lynn’s Book Reviews
First, I want to thank Ann Campanella for providing me with this book so I may bring this review to you.
Ann Campanella is a very brave and strong woman to open up and share her personal story of her young daughter's journey in Celiac Mom. Ann’s story is real, genuine and told from her heart. This book will inform you and educate you on all things gluten and things about Celiac Disease. Last but not least Sydney will pull on your heart strings with everything she went through.
This book is dedicated to Sydney and all of those who had to say goodbye to Gluten.
This is the story of Ann Campanella’s young daughter’s diagnosis of Celiac Disease. Having a GI disorder of my own and having to follow a certain diet for it I can empathize with all the testing she had to endure and the special foods she needs to eat.
Ann does an amazing job educating her readers all about gluten, what celiac disease is and how it affects her daughter’s body. This book is a great resource for anyone you know who has this disease or want to learn more about it to be supportive to someone who has it.
This is an incredibly interesting book where Ann writes about life before Sydney was born. We learn about her parents, their health, her health, what lead up to Sydney’s birth and after. All the revelations she had that lead up to Sydney’s diagnosis was interesting how it all tied in.
I loved that Sydney had a passion for her parents reading her books at night!
My heart ached to hear Ann’s Mom was suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Having had an Endoscopy myself I can’t imagine how scary it would be for a 5 year old to get one done! Sydney was very brave! I never got a Wendy’s Frosty after my procedure! She is lucky!
Transitioning into a gluten free lifestyle was not easy for them. However, it was worth it.
Ann included some amazing resources at the end of the book. There is a list of 14 days of Gluten Free meals to help you out with. Some of them look really good too. She also has some recipes from the professionals as well. Ann includes a list of helpful people, products and websites that you can check out in the back of the book as well. A great shopping list of gluten free foods are added as well.
Are you wondering what Ann, Sydney and Joel look like?! Ann has included a picture of the family!
0 comments:
Post a Comment