We have talked of some events that have happened to us in the last couple months but we thought it might be interesting for you to understand exactly what a week in the life of Kevin looks like right now. Since we went to see the family doctor, and learned of the celiac and lactose test that Kevin will be taking in a couple weeks, we have been incorporating some dairy and gluten into his diet (without dairy or gluten active in his system the tests might not be accurate). He has not had a lot but last week he did have a little of both almost every day, this week we have eased up and he has only had very little a couple days since he started to feel so bad. Someday I may write about the food that we eat and the food we eliminate but for this week enjoy having a peek into our home and lives.
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Today Kevin woke up with some energy and we had already planned to go shopping with Kevin’s sister and go to a Mexican store in a nearby town. We bought him some new cloths and then went out to eat. He had ½ a quesadilla on a white flour tortilla which had cheese in it. When we got home, he went straight to bed and later had a little chicken soup for supper since his stomach was feeling so bad.
Sunday, March 21, 2021
Today I woke up and snuck out of bed so Kevin could sleep longer. He woke up around 9:30, we had already basically decided the night before that he wouldn’t be able to go to church. We sat, or rather I sat and he lay with his head in my lap, on the couch to listen to church. It was a really powerful message about prayer and fasting. In the afternoon he was able to help me clean up the apartment a bit and we went for a short walk outside in the fresh spring air. We met some friends of mine and we stood and chatted with them for a while. This drained Kevin of a lot of his energy. He says just standing in one spot is harder for his muscles than walking sometimes.
Today Kevin had about 4 bites of left-over Quesadilla.
Monday, March 22, 2021
Today Kevin planned to come down with me in the morning and spend the day at my parent's place, his boss had asked him to come into work for a couple minutes to set up new software. Kevin dropped me off at school at 8:00, went to my parents to take a shower and then went in to his workplace. He texted me shortly after 11:30 telling me he was just leaving work and he had a wonderful time chatting and catching up with his co-workers.
About 30 minutes later he texted me that he did not feel well and he was starting to crash. I asked my mom to come pick me up from school since he did not feel well enough to drive anymore. On the way home she told me that, he had told her that he was feeling really good and then about 30 minutes later when she went upstairs, he had been fast asleep and she had been so surprised at the sudden change in him. We stayed there for supper.
In the evening we went to our small group Bible study. I was really excited about going because we have not been able to go. It usually gets quite late and Kevin will be way to tired but he thought he could make it work. He started really crashing during the study and I thought we would need to leave early but he pushed through and we were able to stay until the end which was a huge blessing in that moment.
Today Kevin did not have any dairy or gluten.
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
Today was a VERY hard day. I tried not to disturb Kevin at all as I left because I knew that the day before was really hard on his body and he needed to recuperate. When I was done teaching at 2:00pm I messaged him asking him if he was still asleep because he usually texts me when he wakes up in the morning but he never did. I know this means one of two things; he is either doing really well or (more likely) he is doing really bad, turns out the later was correct. When I got home, he was curled up in bed, he had managed to go for a walk down our driveway but that was all he did, the rest of the day he spent most of his time in bed. While I was preparing dinner, he wanted to be out of bed with me so he sat on the chair but he was just so exhausted.
It is hard for me to explain how he looks when he is like that; his head is bent down, his eyes are glazed over, he looks half dead, acts half dead and hardly responds when asked questions. I eventually convinced him it was ok to go back to bed even though he had spent most of the day in bed already, but he did not want to go because the laptop was too heavy to carry. I took the laptop for him and tried to steady him as he walked to bed (when he is like that, he has very little balance or coordination). I made a wonderful roast beef dinner and we ate it in bed, we watched a couple episodes of a show we are watching and then we got ready for bed.
Around 8:30 is when he usually starts getting a little energy on days like that and he was perfectly fine to get ready for bed and we were talking and laughing like nothing was wrong at all.
Today Kevin did not have any dairy or gluten.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
I got home from school and Kevin was not home, he was out on a walk and soon walked through the door looking like he had just run a marathon. He flopped down on top of me where I sat on the chair. He had in fact walked a 1km loop but he was so tired. He told me that when he was about half way through he wished that he would not have gone so far, he tried to relax and enjoy the nature around him but he just had to focus so hard on putting one foot in front of the other. He went to bed and I did a Castor oil pack on his stomach, this helps with digestion and just calming his muscles down, he feels much better after he has done it.
I had invited my parents over for supper so I was busy cleaning up the house and making supper and Kevin just relaxed in bed, he did come out to taste my tomato less chili though to make sure the spices were right. We had a wonderful time with my parents, at supper he was feeling a little weak but after supper he improved again and he had good conversation with my dad and was able to show him around Belize with pictures on his laptop.
Today Kevin had some small fresh homemade sourdough doughnuts (made with white flour) and maple syrup for dessert.
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Every Thursday we both have chiropractor appointments in the afternoon so Kevin usually spends the day with my mom. I had of course forgotten to pack Kevin a lunch the night before so this morning was a little more hurried, but we managed to get to school earlier than I normally do! When I parked the car at the school Kevin said he didn’t feel really good, but he thought he was well enough to drive to my parents though. Just to be sure that he stayed safe, alert, and arrived okay I got him to call me and we talked as he drove there. He spent the day “half alive” but managed to take my mom’s puppy for a walk as well as trying to teach him how to jump onto the couch. We ate supper in bed again but he started feeling better soon after supper. We enjoyed spending the evening together and he managed to give me a nice back rub because after the chiropractor I was in quite a bit of pain!
Today Kevin had one small sourdough doughnut from the night before.
Friday, March 26, 2021
Today Kevin had a better day! The power had gone off during the night turning off the fan and making the room fairly hot. But after I left, he was able to sleep a little more and had a better start to the day then any of the previous days during the week. He managed to go for a walk in the afternoon and even cooked himself supper. We had another couple coming over to chat with us in the evening and he rested for a bit while I prepared the house. Pretty much the whole time that they were at our house Kevin was able to maintain meaningful conversation with them and it was so great to be able to see him interacting and not have to carry the conversation. After they left we watched a few episodes on Netflix before falling asleep. It was a wonderful evening/day and Kevin was really grateful to end the week like that.
Today Kevin had the last sourdough doughnut.
Saturday, March 27, 2021
Our day started kind of messed up when we both woke up super early! Kevin eventually got up and ate breakfast feeling quite well. I finally was able to fall back asleep around 8:00 while Kevin was on his laptop. I woke up around 10:00 and Kevin was asleep again. I was able to slip out of bed without him noticing, he got up around 11 but soon went back to bed and slept again. He eventually did get out of bed later in the afternoon and was able to do some more work on his computer. He ate a few, light meals throughout the rest of the day instead of anything really heavy and his energy came back somewhat. We went for a short walk in the evening, finished this blog post and just relaxed.
Today Kevin ate a little bit of yogurt for breakfast (which he thinks messed up his forenoon).
Summary
I hope that this was interesting for you and you can see the highs and the lows that we experience almost on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. He is doing worse again this week then he has been doing which is frustrating and discouraging at times. We are not perfectly clear what is making it worse, it could be the gluten and dairy but as you can see, he has not had that much, so either he is even more sensitive then we thought or there is something else involved as well. Please continue to pray for us as we search for answers and we learn to daily release it all into God’s hands and trust he has a plan.
Kevin & Victoria
