"You're too young for this"

      "You're too young for this", they said over and over again as they talked to me about my x-rays. The Er Dr and the radiologist were asking so many questions. Which only raised my fear even more."Too young for what? For what? Just say it I thought" I had gone to the ER that day because I started vomiting blood and having trouble swallowing. I was already imagining the worst. So they were not helping my nerves. I was only twenty-three with a fourteen month old and two week old. My children were all I could think about.
   The Drs that night both seemed uncertain about what exactly was going on. They used words like "stricture", you know how I feel about those kinds of terms.They said "don't worry, you're  young, that will be on your side.It's probably something like ulcers or a hernia. But we see something on the x-rays which indicates something more serious. If you were in your fifties or sixties we would automatically refer you to an oncologist. However,we are referring you to a gastroenterologist. Meanwhile you need to stay on a liquid diet"
   I saw the gastroenterologist within 2 weeks. Let me tell you by then I was so tired of liquids! My Dr went over my medical history, family history and my recent symptoms. He said he wanted to run some tests and do an EGD. He also believed there was a good chance its a gluten allergy. . But first he wanted to take a look at the x ray the Dr from the ER sent. He said it would be a few weeks before they could do the EGD. The Dr leaves and my mom, husband and I all sigh in relief.
    The Dr comes back and says" well you're already in town(we live an hr and a half away) and I saw something I'm concerned about and I'm sure you're tired of liquids. We really need to do this today. I will see you back this afternoon. I will go with you over to schedule your apt". And the relief I just feeling had quickly changed back to panic.
  The next two and a half months were spent going to have the procedure redone. Doing blood work and waiting for biopsies.My Dr kept me on a gluten diet so that it would show up on tests On December 21st my throat closed up completely and I couldn't keep liquids down. They performed the procedure again and took more biopsies. During the EGD he  finally saw something that looked like gluten. I was diagnosed that day.I know this isn't the happy and light material that I usually post. But I feel that this is important too. People with and without Celiac's need to realize the severity of this disease.