My sister and now...the boyfriend

My sister still hasn't worked out what her "illness X" is. Over the summer she was diagnosed with a couple of parasites. In people who aren't ill they don't treat them, because they're generally considered to be pretty minor, but because my sister was so ill they decided to treat. After the treatment she was feeling much better, and we all thought we'd solved it. But...a few weeks later she had midterms. She was stressed and not sleeping enough and all her symptoms came rushing back. (TMI warning!) Her doctor freaked out a few weeks ago because apparently there was blood in her stool, which is never a good thing. The doctor ordered an emergency colonoscopy, which I'm still waiting to hear the results of. She was also gluten free for a while (one of her many doctors diagnosed her with a wheat allergy), but someone else has now told her that she should have seen an improvement by now, so she's coming off that diet. (Which is great, I already think she's too thin.) She's also been seeing a counselor type to deal with some of the psychological aspects of this whole thing - she's understandably been finding it incredibly difficult to deal with all this while at college, and is also feeling like she's wasting her college years. Anyway, I will keep you all updated with any (fingers crossed!) improvements.

My boyfriend has also suffered from stomach issues for a long time (since way before we were together), but they seem to be getting worse. He saw a doctor in the UK who put him on an elimination diet, called FODMAP. Essentially, it cuts out everything but protein and some vegetables (ie no wheat, no dairy, cuts out a lot of fruit). At the same time he had a blood test, which showed abnormally (worryingly) high uric acid and creatine (indicating, according to the doctor, muscle death). The diet is meant to be 8 weeks long, so we're just getting to the reintroduction stage (which is good!). However, he had another blood test last week and the uric acid and creatine are still high, and he apparently now has high bilirubin, which is a by product of blood breakdown. The doctor at our health services is now very worried about his kidneys and has referred him to a kidney specialist for an ultrasound. He's going to have that on Friday. It would be really really tough on us and him if there was something serious. I really doubt there is, as this thing's never showed up on any previous blood tests, but it's still nerve wracking (and obviously kidney's are pretty important).

Anyway, as usual, I feel like I'm completely in the epicenter of all this stuff. I'm really hoping that all my sisters issues get resolved soon, and also that this whole thing with the boyfriend turns out to be not as serious as everyone seems to think it is at the moment :S.