We cannot tolerate gluten any more

We have embarked on a new adventure.  Wendy has just been diagnosed with a gluten intolerance or celiac disease.  We have learned that gluten is a substance that is a part of wheat, rye and barley.  The basic problem is that for some persons the substance irritates and scars the lining of the small intestine, which results in poor nutrition, pain, and other unpleasant effects.

We are privileged now to join an exclusive little group with two other couples who sit in our own bench right behind the deacons who are passing the sacrament.  Someone in this group must bring gluten-free bread in little individualized plastic bags and in a separate tray.

We are hoping that her condition is of the less severe variety.  In the most severe form, besides the problem of ingesting gluten, even touching or perhaps breathing in microscopic particles of some substance containing gluten sets off a reaction.  One lady in our ward breaks out in a sort of hives with any kind of exposure.

And there is a new vocabulary to learn, a person having become “glutenated” or “glutenized.”  This refers to an acute reaction due to having either ingested or been exposed to gluten.