Good news!

The past few weeks our oldest daughter Madison has been showing signs of suffering from celiac sprue. In fact, we were nearly certain that was the case. My mother suffers from it, and it typically skips a generation, so doing the math, it was all but a done deal.

We took Madison to the pediatrician today to begin a formal diagnosis. I imagine he cringed when we told him that we'd been doing some research on the disease, knowing how I am when people try to tell me what they think the problem is with the equipment in their classroom. Anyway, he looked her over, did all the typical "doctor stuff" and told us that he really didn't think that was the problem, but didn't rule it out completely.

The explanation of his reasons make us optimistic that there is a simpler and less drastic problem to be addressed. Up to that point Nancy and I had resigned ourselves to the idea that we would have one daughter who couldn't have eggs, milk, or nuts and another who would have to avoid pastas and breads for the rest of her life. That would make for some challenging dinner menus for the Lyerla family...