I woke up today and I remembered that exactly one year ago, I got a call from my son telling me he was taking his dad to the ER, he was having pain, that is all I got and for the car ride there I had a million things running through my head. I thought maybe it was his heart, I didn’t know, all I knew is we had just spent the last month working on our health including a regular gym routine with a trainer. The gym was newer for Dave, all his fitness prior to joining the new gym came from working on our yard in the heat and never once did he experience a heart issue, but that was where my mind kept taking me. I was really thrown off because here we had just spent that last month exercising and working on our diet and he was losing weight.

It was not his heart, it was Acute Pancreatitis and looks like it was due to a blockage in his bile duct which likely happened because he no longer had a gall bladder as it was removed about 7 years ago.

“Acute pancreatitis is a painful inflammation of the pancreas, located in the upper left side of your abdomen. There are direct and indirect causes of pancreatitis, including obstructions, immune system reactions, viral infections, and reactions to certain medications.”

I did not realize until later just how dire things were, but I am so thankful the turnout, in the end, was good, July was spent in and out of the hospital and August was spent meeting new doctors and one out-patient surgery and another short hospital visit due to an infection. What I learned along the way was that we needed to find a more integrative doctor and also have our own specialists and never again have to rely on hospital assigned staff.

The journey to now has been every changing. I am thankful to have found some amazing physicians and things that have helped so much.

I searched our area for an integrative doctor that would be on our insurance and we found Dr. Makini Ainsworth. She has been amazing and with her care and thoroughness Dave is a new person, he learned he is highly allergic to wheat and several other food items. We never considered this an issue but once we learned this it explained so much. So a huge shout out to this wonderful doctor and if you live in the area and are in need of something better for your healthcare I would highly recommend checking her practice out.

I know I have mentioned the local shop here Kickshaws in another post but I really want to sing their praises again because it is with new eyes that I appreciate them, before and still, I went for beef and dairy that was not full of gross stuff and Kombucha (this stuff is amazing when you are trying to heal you gut), but they offer so much more, which I am sure others knew but unless you are knee-deep in looking for some decent gluten-free foods.

Since my last time sharing them they have opened a restaurant too. So again if you live near Fredericksburg this is a place you should visit, their baked goods are amazing. Also when Dave discovered that Kimchi was also good for your gut we began buying it and at $7+ per jar it can get expensive, but worth is when you take that little ole jar and compare it to the tens of thousands of dollars that we spent with all the hospital stays and medical care to get Dave stable and on his feet. So I am happy to spend that and more on good healing foods.

Anyway sorry I get sidetracked, back to Kimchi, I was able to take a class at Kickshaws on how to make Kimchi. Can I just say thank you to Kathy for teaching such a valuable class, really from the bottom of my heart….THANK YOU!!!!!

There are so many other places and people we have met over the last year and I plan to thank each of them for their guidance (even if they may not be aware that they guided us, lol) on our quest to feed our bodies better.