Update on John

Hey folks--

I know, I know, it's been awhile since we've written. We got wrapped up in school, and church, and ballet, and chess club, and, especially, theatre stuff--Dan and Margie are breaking their golden rule and working on two shows at the same time (Dan, Art of Murder, which opens tonight, so he's pretty much done, and Margie, Plaid Tidings, which opens December 3).

But we wanted to take a minute to update everyone on John's health, as it has been an area of concern to everyone.

As you know, John has had a rash on his leg for as long as we can remember. He developed a similar rash on his face about a year ago. Since then, we have been to doctor after doctor to discover the cause of the problem.

Several months ago we were finally told that he has a systemic yeast infection, so we went on a radical yeast elimination diet and pumped his body full of yeast fighting substances--namely acidophilus and caprylic acid.

The diet consisted of eliminating all forms of sugar and fermented foods--which meant no sugar, no fruit, no cheese, no vinegar, no mushrooms, no tofu--and no carbs (which turn into sugar in the body)--no bread, no rice, no potatoes, no corn...no, no, no, no, no.

This leads one to ask--what exactly CAN he eat? In nutshell, non-starchy vegetables (such as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, spinach) and protein (eggs, some nuts, and some beans).

John took it all in stride. Though he did sneak food on occasion, he never complained.

A few weeks ago, while we were at a buffet restaurant (the only place we felt we were getting our money's worth with him at a restaurant), John announced, "When I grow up and no one can tell me what to do, I'm going to be a meatatarian."

Margie sighed and said, "Well, you can eat meat right now if you want."

This might sound shocking, but you have remember a couple things. First, Dan and Margie always agreed that being a vegetarian would be a choice. Though we would have a vegetarian home, we wouldn't force our kids to be vegetarians.

Second, there was hardly anything else he could eat!

So Margie cringed as she watched Dan put that first piece of steak in John's mouth. It's a picture she will never forget.

Sigh.

Anyway... We continued on the diet, but were disturbed that there was no visible improvement in the rash even after two full months. Sometimes we would feel like it was getting better and sometimes we didn't. It was frustrating.

Not only that, but we started to notice a change in John's coloring--he was getting yellow, like something was wrong with his liver.

It was startling at first and then became downright scary when we took him to the doctor and they starting talking about admitting him to the hospital.

After a harrowing 12 hours as we waited for the results of his blood test (and after having a conversation with a friend who said, "He looks exactly the same color as my son did just before his first kidney transplant"--ack!), we finally got a diagnosis--carotenemia. A benign condition caused by eating too many vegetables!

It seems we just can't win.

Despite the fact that carotenemia is not harmful, it is disconcerting, and since we had seen no improvement in the rash, we decided to go ahead take him off the diet.

At this point, he is just a normal kid with an itchy face. His color has not completely returned to normal, but they say it may take a couple months yet for that to happen.

And that's the scoop.

Happy Halloween!