Day 13

Friday 9/24


Finally, my GI specialist appointment. Since my doc was off with knee surgery, I got to see a very nice and knowledgeable Physician's Assistant, and I'm confused as to what her training is. Whatever allows me to schedule the endoscopy though.


The first thing she says is, "So, you've got a positive Celiac blood test?" When I answer in the affirmative, she asks if it runs in my family. Yes, I say, my maternal aunt was diagnosed a few years ago. She says, "Ah. And are you of Irish or Scottish decent?" This surprises me because I do in fact have that heritage, but on my dad's side. I say that the side with the Celiac is Eastern European Jewish. Her eyes widen as she says, "Ohhhhhh". Crap. I guess I have the two worst genetic backgrounds in terms of risk for Celiac. So much for my usual joke of having healthier "hybrid genes". 


Anyway, the assistant asks me about all my symptoms and says we should definitely proceed with an endoscopy. By the way, she was really excited to hear I'm still eating gluten. So I guess it's worth it to get a good look in the endoscopy. She wants me to get anesthesia for the test because I woke up in the middle of my wisdom teeth extraction, which suggests an ability to metabolize sedatives too quickly. I've never had anesthesia, so that freaks me out a bit. Plus, I'll bet my insurance is going to charge me an arm and a leg. But what can I do, really?


As the assistant is about to end our visit, she mentions that it sounds like Celiac to her, but there's always a chance it could be Crohn's or IBS. I ask her how likely it is to not be Celiac, and she says, "Well, I've never seen such high levels in your blood test as yours before. But there's always a chance." I ask her what that means, and she won't give me a straight answer. I try not to read into it, but immediately go home and google "Celiac blood test" to see if I can figure out what high levels mean. Looks like lots of antibodies that react to gluten. Gotta be a sure sign of Celiac, right? Is it weird I want the diagnosis now? It's a straightforward answer, which would be nice.


Endoscopy on Oct 7. I'm almost one step closer to knowing for sure.