Larry Mac

[darlindeb25]

Now about that gluten-free hospital food. The first morning I could eat, they gave me bacon and cereal. The cereal had barely malt clearly listed in the ingredients. They also kept giving me rice that looked like it had

[jerseyangel]

Oh Deb, that sounds awful! I'm so sorry that you had to endure all of that on top of the surgery.

My experience was not too bad....At my pre-op appointment at the hospital (before surgery and a 2 day stay), I informed the nurses of my Celiac. After a little discussion, they agreed that my supplying all of my own food was the best idea.

They also assured me that all of my oral meds would be checked throught their pharmacy. I was to bring my own safe generic blood pressure pills.

They printed "gluten intolerant" on my red wristband with all of my drug allergies. They also showed my husband where there was a microwave to heat my food.

I brought single-serve Pacific chicken broth for the first day, and various packable things to keep in the room.

When I felt like eating (which wasn't much), I had prepared meals well in advance and had them frozen. My husband could then bring one up to me and heat it there.

Obviously, in the case of an accident--or other instances that require hospitalization without warning, it would be difficult to plan. I still had to be on guard--I always reminded the individual nurses to check on meds and I was still offered a tray at every mealtime (which I politely declined).

PS--Deb, I'm moving this to "coping with" because I think the discussion would be of value to those wondering how to handle a hospital experience.

[~alex~]

I was given (non gluten free) toast for breakfast on the first morning when I was hospitalized . I was admitted in the middle of the night with pneumonia and I think the nighttime staff forgot to write down or tell the daytime staff that I had Celiac disease. So if you are admitted in the middle of the night, be wary of your breakfast the next morning because they might not have gotten the message yet.

Once everything was cleared up they put "Celiac Disease -- no gluten" on my wrist band and on a sign above my bed. I still chose not to eat much from the hospital because I didn't think they could protect me well enough from cross contamination. I ate things like bananas or packaged jello that I knew was okay but my fiance brought me everything else from home.

When I had a second emergency admittance to the same hospital, they had my Celiac on file and immediately put it on my wrist band and above my bed, and I wasn't given any toast that time. They just brought me bananas and a few other definitely safe things.

So I guess, definitely be extra careful when you are admitted to a hospital for the first time. Tell anyone and everyone about celiac/gluten because the info may not have been recorded or passed on. I was a new Celiac and somewhat delirious from fever and lack of sleep, so had I been hungry I may have eaten the toast without even thinking!