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Hi, all,

Sorry to be late with this summary, but it was for the best reason of
all: our baby decided to make her appearance a month early! Thank
goodness I had already gotten so many responses to my question on IV
meds, and had just looked at several sites concerning GF oral meds.

The consensus of everyone who responded was that we need not worry about
gluten in IV meds, for two reasons: (1) IV meds do not go through the
gut, and (2) there is no gluten in IV products anyway. I got assurances
of this from several people who had consulted pharmacists or who had
heard experts speak about it.

For those of you in the northern Virginia area, dealing with the GF
issue at Fair Oaks Hospital was surprisingly easy, once I actually was
cogent enough after my unexpected surgery to request a dietary
consultation. The hospital kitchen keeps a small store of GF frozen
entrees from Dietary Specialties, which they heat and serve in the
sealed plastic container, so no worries about contamination on the
entrees, anyway. Then the dietician researched with the kitchen what
other things they served that were GF. Breakfast choices were pretty
slim (eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, yogurt), so I would advise anyone in for
an extended stay to bring their own GF cereal or other favorites. GF
bread was available (but I'm also sensitive to yeast and anyway have not
found GF bread that I like, so I didn't order it). For lunch and dinner,
I ordered one of the GF frozen meals, a salad with oil & vinegar, fresh
fruit, baked potato, etc. I mentioned I was GF every time I ordered,
though it apparently had been put into the computer, because after the
first day they already knew. I was there for 4 days, and by the fourth
day I had nearly exhausted the GF entrees that they had on hand. But
they were quite willing to order more.

My experience was a little different at Potomac Hospital in Woodbridge a
few days later. Our baby daughter was admitted there for jaundice, and I
stayed with her in the Pediatrics unit. It was much more difficult to
figure out what I could eat there. This was definitely institutional
food, and the people who called to ask for my preferences often could
not answer my questions about what various sauces might contain (one
lady said "I'm not the cook, I don't know!"--but she was willing to go
and check with the cooks). And they made mistakes (like giving me Puffed
Rice that had malt in it one morning, and forgetting altogether that I
was GF on my last morning there). Everyone was very nice and tried to be
accommodating, but the folks in the kitchen just had no understanding of
the GF diet. I did get a follow up with a dietician, but it was after I
had already been there a day and a half (was there two and half days
total). (However, I did not request a dietary consultation there, just
dealt with food service directly.)


By the way, I am not terribly reactive to gluten, so I can't judge
whether there might have been mistakes or contamination. I did not have
a reaction at either hospital, but that is not saying much given my lack
of sensitivity to small amounts of gluten.

Anyway, I'm grateful to be home now with my new daughter and my
wonderful husband, who had been doing all the cooking while I recover.
(He makes a mean fried chicken with cream gravy, using potato starch
instead of flour.) I hope this long missive will be of use to some of
you! Thanks again for your great responses!

Jennifer L. Gross
Wordwright Editing & Writing
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