Tyla has done it again! She is the Queen of Mushroom Picking and this week, she has found morels - no less, she has found them in...wait for it....our garden!!

She found 100 grams of these babies!

I had no idea when morels grew  -I just assumed they would be around in October - the same as all the others like porcinis (cepes) and oyster mushies. But no! They are here. And they taste A-MA-ZING! Ed cut them, leaving the stalks in the ground and we hope they spore some more. They grow well in sandy soil and they're hollow. To prepare them, you rinse them well and voila -ready to cook! They are not to be eaten raw, as they are mildly toxic.

We made some homemade burgers, with onion, garlic, salt and pepper and parsley from the garden (no egg and cumin, as I'm still on my elimination diet). I prepped some baby spinach, ripe avocado and we fried up some pork strips that I had marinating in olive oil, salt, pepper and dried garlic. For the morels, we had two separate recipes. For Ed and Tyla, they fried some garlic in a tablespoon of butter, until soft. Then they added chopped up Morels and cooked for another couple of minutes. Then at the end, added a tablespoon of white wine, salt and pepper. I had mine the same, but olive oil instead of butter and no white wine.

We fried the burgers on our Le Creuset griddle pan, and served with the pork and morel sauce.

O. M. G!! 

I have never tasted mushrooms so good! Considering I wasn't feeling too optimistic about the dwindling supplies in the fridge, I was super excited about the meal we created. I really could have eaten that dinner twice. Roll on more rain and more morels!

It's been a long week. Tomorrow is Friday and I cannot wait for the weekend. I have spent the past three days in front of the Mac, compiling all 60+ pages evidence for an upcoming court case. It's a long story, but basically our last tenant left without paying his mast month's rent. He was a terrible tenant and tried to sue us for 5000 pounds! Needles to say, he lost, but not before costing me hours of time fighting the court case - precious  time I could have spent with my newborn baby girl.

Anyway, I cannot even begin to explain the relief I feel having sent the papers off yesterday. With the case hanging over me, I haven't had any motivation to do housework, sew, bake - nada! Whilst I was in the throes of tackling the case, Ed ran out of underwear, the washing spilled out over the laundry basket, our sheets looked like they would crawl off the beds and even the bath was dusty. As soon as those papers were sent off to the court - boom! My heart started singing and all was right with the world. Since then all the bed sheets have been changed, bread has been baked, three loads of washing have been washed and dried and the downstairs floor has been washed. We're not even 24 hours post-court fighting! It all helps that it has been sunny here for over a week, with temps as high as 23 degrees C.

Nina playing in the sun - God help us if we try to take the bike helmet off of her!

Whether it's an essay, a court case or any other intense paperwork, the result is always the same when it's completed -heavenly bliss! If only I could hold that moment of euphoria in my mind, when tackling my writing tasks - it would certainly beat dreaming about cleaning skirting boards!

I am way into my diet now and I am now noticing that apart from being the skinniest I've been since I was 8 years old, I am not craving bread or cakes. I think I may have finally slain the sugar dragon - wooohooo!

Big Momma before...

..Skinny Momma after!

It has been a tough 6 weeks, but I feel I am settling in to it now. It is surreal that I have come this far and not quit. I remember the first time I read It Starts With Food, I remember thinking that there would always be a limit to what I would be able to cut out of my diet and I certainly wouldn't be able to cut out all that food and eggs - what would I eat for breakfast?? 

The truth is, when you are desperate, you can pretty much achieve anything.

I had really got to the point where I was ready to even give the antibiotics a go. I was in constant pain and was still just using the gauze and micropore to strap my sores up. Painkillers were ruining my stomach and after a few days of painkillers, I was getting awful headaches.

I knew then that I just didn't want to be intoxicating myself even more with antibiotics. I had been eating semi-paleo since June. I got back on the internet and found Primal Girl's blog again. I re-read it and decided, enough was enough -  I was going to do it!

And here I am. Eating a beautiful variety of nature's beautiful foods. Again, I'd love to say it was easy, but it is not. Who wants to cook two-three times a day, everyday? Who doesn't want to be able to throw in a ready-meal, or a pizza at the end of a hectic week? I certainly struggle at those times. But let me say this. My family and I are eating a bigger and better variety of fruit and vegetables than ever before. We have cut down on our meat consumption and we substitute junk food nights with oven baked sweet potatoes, eaten covered in pink Himalayan salt and eaten with our fingers from a bowl whilst watching TV. We have learnt to appreciate that all the food we are eating is nourishing us and the effort we put in has a reward. Good health. For all of us.

So on the mornings where I struggle to decide what to eat and force myself to cook up those leftover courgettes and onions, I am comforted by the thought that I have achieved more than I ever believed was possible! The inflammation in my backside has subsided so much. I still have the spots and they are still leaking - I have even had a couple of new ones. But it's all healing so much quicker. I haven't had any painkillers for at least two weeks. Will I go into remission? Who knows? But something is working and I am more motivated than ever to carry on eating this way.

After seeing the homeopath, he has given me the go ahead to order the Swiss treatment of Serocytols. I am optimistic, as I am with all new treatments. I believe that there is a difference in being optimistic and blindly hopeful - although both have their place at times - and I am ready to try a new treatment. Edwin phones Serolab and places the order. It will arrive the day we get back from Brittany.

It's hard to say if the homeopathic treatment I am on now is working. I would say that my HS definitely has not gotten worse, which is a fab thing. My diet is still difficult. I have some delicious meals, but I would be lying if I said that finding the inspiration to eat is easy. I don't take supplements other than the magnesium and the once a week Vit D drops that the homeopath has prescribed for me. I wonder if the alcohol and the lactose in the homeopathic medicines have an impact on my diet and if I am actually getting anywhere at all. It's not so much a 'self pity' thing, as a 'lost bewilderment' thing, fuelled by all the conflicting information on the internet! Of course there is some self-pity, but it is all getting easier. I am not bowled over (as often) by the realisation that I have an incurable disease. I no longer miss milk or dairy products. I love it when I have a good meal and feel I am nourishing my body and soul. Most of all I love my family and am so grateful for having them around me.

This post is all about HS, so if you are squeamish, have no interest in blood and pus and other disgusting aspects of this disease, please feel free to move on!

I am sick of not getting anywhere with this. Whenever I have a few days like this I find the best way is to try and find something that gives me some hope that I can live a little more comfortably with this condition. So, I decided to email some dressing companies based on a wound care sheet I found. Convatec were very polite, but said they could not send me any dressings direct as samples are only sent to dermatologists/organisations etc. The nice lady from Convatec was very sweet and sent me a link to the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Trust website and urged me to go and see a dermatologist here. I'd very much like to, but my last experience of seeing a dermatologist in Bordeaux didn't go so well.

We went to a hospital in Bordeaux. After waiting for nearly 2 hours, we finally met the derm. He brought in a whole load of students to examine my backside, spoke only in French, addressing Edwin most of the time. He spoke English to me at the very end, so he obviously could have explained the tricky bits in English, but chose not to. When I tried in earnest (in French) to explain how I had changed my diet and tried to change my whole lifestyle to combat this disease from inside, he hardly acknowledged it. Instead he wote me a prescription for a 10 week course of antibiotics and said, "If you were dying you would take it, but it's up to you." Oh, the arrogance!

Anyway, I am back to finding my own path for the time being. 3M called me back and said they would get their resident doctor to call me about types of dressings, but I never heard back. I decided to ask my homeopath for a prescription of Duoderm Extra Thin, but as usual when I think everything is going well the language barrier prevails and I got a prescription for Duoderm E Border (I believe it is Granuflex in the UK) instead.

I tried it the next day, carefully cutting it out and placing it directly on the sensitive spots that were leaking. It was weird, awkward and a bit cumbersome. The patches were quite thick and they were sticky, which meant my butt cheeks kept sticking together during the day! By the end of the day, I had had enough and tried to take them off. Well, it says just hold the skin and gently peel back...right...that's not quite how it happened with me! I tried pulling and it was so stuck to my skin, I was in agony. Ed came to help me and at this point one side opened and pus dripped all over the floor. I started laughing at the absurdity of the position I was in, not really knowing what to do next. I stood in the shower and we carried on laughing as I peeled the layer of hydrocolloid off my broken skin, with intermittent yelps of pain between the laughs.

It hadn't worked out as well as I'd hoped. it had been semi-'waterproof', but  had definitely cut the strips too big. I realised too, that my skin was so sensitive, I would need to put the Mepilex on under it, to prevent it sticking to my skin. It was a little disappointing, but for a first go at finding a longer term solution, it wasn't all that bad. It's hard to know what you are supposed to be doing with all of this new technology, even if it is just a glorified plaster.

One down, many more dressings to go! Allez!

I am three weeks into my diet now. I would love to say it has been easy and I am enjoying all the lovely recipes of nourishing food that are out there, but it's not true. I am STARVING!!! Well, that's a little bit of an exaggeration, but I am having super intense cravings for cakes, bread, nuts and well, anything and everything I'm not allowed. The only benefit I can see right now, is that I have lost about 7 lbs. I am one grumpy bitch, my skin is bad and I have low energy levels, or low motivation - I can't quite decide what it is. It's been hard on everyone and I really need to pull myself out of it. Quick. But how??

I am really enjoying my main meals, but am finding it hard in between meals. I don't usually snack that much, but since starting this AIP, I have been really hungry between meals. I guess if I asked a pro, they would say I'm not getting enough nutrient dense food in my diet. I'm so over it all though, I'm struggling to find the motivation to cook up some lovely stuff to see me through the day.

I have succumbed and bought myself some toasted coconut flakes. I am assuming they are not good for me or my diet, but they've got to be better than dark chocolate, almond or any of the other scrumptious foods I want to stuff my face with.

Lets hope my mojo comes back pretty quick, because I'm becoming seriously unpopular in this household!

 Happy Valentine's Day! I have had a busy day, finishing off presents and planning after school painting for the girls. I love making stuff, but it is pretty hard to fit it all in whilst entertaining a toddler! Plus, she is the lightest sleeper ever, so when she goes up to bed, I have to craft as quietly as possible. God, the sewing machine seems so loud!! I've finished the heart cushion and did some chain stitch letters on it. This is my first time ever, so it's not been perfect. Plus the added pressure of doing it in a limited time and without making ANY noise has made it a bit harder still!

I blame the wonky stitching on Nina...

My little present for Tyla is made last minute, too. I rummaged through my leftover supplies from Christmas, got the trusty glue gun out and voila! An easy and quick little gift, that I know she will love. She likes anything mini (don't we all) and loves little notes, so I'm on to a winner here!

I pick Ty up - she loves her gift. We all get down on the floor and make hand prints in paint on a big heart that I've drawn. I always love the idea of doing stuff together, but it's always so much easier in your head isn't it?? Well, the girls enjoyed getting mucky and we have a handprinted heart, that is "made with love, not precision"! 

Daddy comes home with an unexpected bunch of roses for moi! Aaaw! One for each year together (that's four whole years - a long time for us novices) He wanted to buy a nice wine, but we'll have to wait 55 days at least for that, not that I'm counting...

Well, today has been busy and challenging, but warm and fuzzy at the same time. I am eating enough good food and feeling less pain. Just how I like it.