Friday, January 13, 2006

Dog bites and Diseases

We’ve been dog-sitting this week for my friend. Paca is a Chihuahua and a bit of a nervous little thing. She just started to warm up to us today—being playful and cute and not shaking all over everytime she sees us. G was playing next to her (about two feet away) growling in her little G voice and playing in her imaginative world. Paca felt threatened and bit G on her left hand. I put Paca in her kennel and rushed G upstairs to wash her hands and check the bite. I called the Pediatrician to find out if G would be okay since all her immunizations are up-to-date. While on the phone, we discovered that the skin was not actually broken, it was just bleeding underneath. But unfortunately, since I had notified the clinic, they had to file a report with the Public Safety department and G had to be seen by the doctor. Now Paca will be watched for 10 days to watch for signs of rabies. G made out like a bandit with Bob the Builder stickers and a Dora sticker (from the immunization clinic where I got my flu shot today).

G had her blood drawn today for a new test called, “Tissue Transglutaminase” to test her for Celiac. If it comes back positive, she will be sent to Fargo for a biopsy. A biopsy is still considered the “gold-standard” for diagnosing Celiac Disease (gluten-sensitive enteropathy). So, I’ll probably have to have a biopsy as well to conclusively diagnose me.

I’ve been reading my cookbook I bought last year about Gluten-Free cooking. It’s very educational. I’m finding out all kinds of new things like my villi (in my small intestine) will actually start to heal as I stay on a strict gluten-free diet, and “cheating” on my diet – even if I don't get any symptoms--will do further damage to my body. I could get osteoporosis, a neurological illness or even lymphoma. And that it’s not too far-fetched to get lymphoma. The chances are actually 40% higher than a non-Celiac. Gluten is like a toxin to people with celiac disease, because it damages their intestines. I’m learning how to read labels. I’ve called a lot of companies in the past 9 days since I’ve learned about my condition. But you know, I consider myself lucky that I have an answer to what ails me and I don’t need surgery or medication—just a gluten-free diet.

1 comment:

Dakrat said...

What kind of animal would attack a child as cute as little Gabby? Well, let’s take a moment to study the aggressor. CHIHUAHUA – what does it mean? The word, broken down into its principle parts is: CHI, HUA, and HUA.

Chi is the vital force believed in Taoism and other Chinese thought to be inherent in all things. The unimpeded circulation of chi and a balance of its negative and positive forms in the body are held to be essential to good health in traditional Chinese medicine.

Hua is an Islamic fundamentalist group in Pakistan that fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s; now operates as a terrorist organization primarily in Kashmir and seeks Kashmir's accession by Pakistan.

HUA is repeated indicating it embodies the weightier portion of Chihuahua’s meaning. Consequently, since Chi is a balance of good and bad, and Hua is bad (with emphasis on Hua), Chihuahua is essentially bad with a pretense of good. It is no wonder then that this particular breed of rodent – I mean dog – is “prone to some genetic anomalies, often neurological ones.”

However, the definition above is outdone by the Americanism Heritage Dictionary which simply defines Chihuahua as, “rat dog.”