Family Health Update
Health has been a journey for us the past year. It has been a whole year since I started on MY health journey – finding out I had tick-borne illnesses, thyroid issues, being very ill, etc….
In April, Lexa started her journey (we knew stuff was going on before, butcthats when we found out results & started treatment). October began the journey for McKaylee & Lizzy. November for the rest.
Yes, you read that right…somehow ALL 8 KIDS HAVE TICK-BORNE ILLNESSES! Yikes!
How on earth did this happen? No clue. While tick-borne illnesses are blood borne & it’s possible that I passed them on to the kids during pregnancy/birth…the reality is that some of the kids have different tick-borne illnesses, which was the surprise. We figured that at least some of them had been infected through birth, but several of the kids have tick-borne illnesses that I don’t have.
The reality is that among the family we have 4 different tick-borne illnesses…Lyme, Tick borne relapsing fever, Bartonella & Babesia. Some have up to 3 of these. Crazy to think about. Sigh.
It is overwhelming & daunting.
For 5 of us, we have had food sensitivity panels done & are avoiding the foods we reacted highest to. However, it has been SOO overwhelming trying to individually tailor food for each person & still cooking for the whole family also.
So what we decided is necessary for now is to start with going gluten free. Ideally, we need to go Dairy Free also, but I think that will take a bit more time & adjustment.
Tick-borne illnesses feed off gluten, dairy & sugar. So, it really is important…just hard.
We are shooting for about 8-9 months, then reevaluate & see. Some of the kids will be done with treatment (hopefully) in that time period. It seems more manageable to have it be something temporary than long term. And also I’m grateful that we can do it as a family. No more having to watch other family members eat food you can’t have (at least less…there are still some individual sensitivities). However, it should greatly help with meal planning, cooking, etc… (More on that in a couple days.)
We would covet your prayers. This has been extremely overwhelming in so many ways – emotionally, physically, financially! God has always faithfully provided for us & we are trusting that He will continue to do so. One day at a time, sometimes! ❤