Getting Somewhere.... FINALLY!!

My health is getting lots better since using the Sleep Apnoea machine, excercise and obviously off the gluten/mostly off dairy diet. I feel flexible, alive and energetic, YAY!
All of the children except Raven has been on a mini-gluten challenge followed up by a blood test for all of them, Raven as a bit of a control.
The bloods were taken on Monday, hopefully in time for the results to be ready for their next appointment with the pediatrician in three weeks. He is a great doc so far, it took some pushing to get this far, but finally we're there, and he's hearing us, nice feeling. But really it is expected just never seems to happen that way...

Labyrinth has a Sleep Apnoea test when Andrew has one middle of next month, if she has that it might explain her move swings and lack of attention span at times.

Monika is still sore and sick, the poor lass. Little improvements are big here, and she has been a little improved, strange since she's had more gluten than usual...

Other than that I'm going to make Cornbread for tea, which I'd better get on with right now!
Weight has been coming off, it is visible now... but still got quite a bit to go... too much really but I'm capable and determined now! Until next time Q.

The Horrid Happenings of the 6th of July

Today we had to take Raven to the hospital first thing in the morning for more blood tests/stool samples...
Well, naturally they kept us waiting for nearly two hours while "something unexpected was happening in the treatment room." Eventurally after some pestering they agreed to take him into the quieter 'children's waiting room' to do the test. All this time he was anxious and upset because he remembered how they bled him last time (pushing the blood out his veins because "he just wasn't a good bleeder."
I asked him if he wanted mum or dad to take him in to hold his hand? He asked for me... well, long, tiring, stress filled 10 minuted was never to be had by anyone (OK but it wasn't very nice)... while I and two nurses restrained him they gave him a 'finger prick blood test' and took out about thirty drops (plus all the ones the nurses wore) as he thrashed around shouting 'stop, just stop" whilst the nurses pushed blood out of his finger over and over again. Even my diabetic mother who does the finger prick blood test 3 times a day said that was cruel, one prick hurts enough but to continue to push blood out?
Needless to say he wouldn't co-operate with other sampling and tests, and we still have to get that stool sample into them ASAP (I'm writing this on the tail end of his birthday).
I asked them why the finger prick test, they said it normally was done for tests to do with muscles mostly, then later volunteered it also is used to study certain enzymes. I am in the dark as to what they are searching for here.... I'm really concerned now.
Dante is still waiting to hear back about his stool sample, but they haven't failed to send us a bill for it.
And so the anxious wait goes on...