The Diagnosis

On April 26, 2011, Jacob came home from work and immediatly rushed to the bathroom to throw up. We had spoken several times throughout the day and he had commented each time that his stomach hurt and that he felt very weak. I didn't think much about it because for more than a year he had complained of a painful belly and always seemed to have very low energy. As the evening progressed so did his pain. At one point I found him laying on the bedroom floor crying because of the pain. He threw-up uncontrollably for hours. After lots of prayer and no improvement Jacob said with much conviction that he had to go to the hospital. As soon as he said it I knew it was serious. Jacob is a tough cookie and has never been to the hospital before.

After a CT scan, blood tests, upper GI endoscopy, a conlonoscopy, lots of pain meds and three days in the hospital rehydrating and getting a blood trasnfusion (he had lost half his blood supply because of internal bleeding), Jacob was diagnosed with Crohns disease and four ulcers in his small intestine. I'd never even heard of the disease before then. The Doctor gave a brief description of what the disease was, telling us that it was incurable and that Jacob would need to be on medication the rest of his life. He said we could get more aggressive with the medicine if need be. I asked about dietary instructions and his exact words were "Jacob is young and healthy. He should be able to eat whatever he wants." Call me arrogant but that Doctor was immediately discredited, to a degree,  after he said that.  I mean seriously... how can you say there is nothing special to eat or avoid when you have bleeding sores in your intestines??? Don't get me wrong... I highly respect and acknowledge the Doctors education, experience and knowledge... but feel that it's very narrow minded to not look beyond medicine for cures.

The last two weeks have been stressful, hopeful, confusing, tiring, exciting and more. Jake and I have both done an incredible amount of reading in search of a solution. We've both felt very alone at times seeing as the only direction from the medical world was to take medicine to ease symptoms for this incurable disease. Looking back over the past five years I truly feel that God has been preparing us for this by taking us on a journey of increased awareness and passion for a healthy lifestyle. We'd already made many changes to our diet before this happened. 

For the next month our whole family will be on a diet that combines ideas from Dr. Mercola, Jordan Rubin, who writes "The Makers Diet", and Elaine Gottschall "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" with The Specific Carbohydrate Diet. I feel confident that one way or another, by us partnering with our Father, the Great Healer, Jacob will become well and whole. I'm not sure if healing will come by way of a quick miracle or diet changes, but for now I feel great peace and purpose in pursuing this diet.

This blog is our story of getting Jacob and Samuel (who we suspect has Celiac Disease) completely cured of this "incurable" sickness. I'm excited and thrilled about this journey!