A few things have happened since I last posted.
After conversations with my GP and a letter to the practice manager outlining why an annual blood test would be important to me, we have come to an agreement that I am one of the people for whom an annual blood test would be very important. Since I never had symptoms of Coeliac Disease, the only way I will know how I am getting on is through these blood tests, so that was a result!!
Still haven't managed to source any vietnamese rice paper (this is what they make Spring Rolls from) which means Spring Rolls, Fajita's, and wraps for lunch are still off the menu which is a bet sad.
With Pancake Day on the way, Just remember you only need to replace the flour with a Gluten Free variety to make your pancakes. Lemon and Sugar are both Gluten Free and so is Honey!! Can't wait!! If you use the commercial sauces for filling the Pancakes remember to check the labels.
Why not have a go with some different fillings: Strawberries with sugar and greek yoghurt Bananas and honey I'm sure you can come up with others.....orange and chocolate............
Yum Yum!!!
Thursday 24 January 2013
Wednesday 16 January 2013
Ups and Downs
I still have 'good' days and 'bad' days.
Sometimes I wish the whole thing would go away so I could just go on like I used to and enjoy all food.
I have to accept that I cannot now eat anything I want, and that is very upsetting to me, however knowing I can't change the diagnosis, I can either choose to accept it and move on or I can not accept it and be miserable for the rest of my life...........I know which one is the best option.
Having ups and downs is part of the acceptance process and I believe therefore that this is completely natural. When I have a down day, I just say; Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again!! (tomorrow!) This is the only thing you can do.
Anyone who goes on a 'gluten free diet' by choice does not understand what 'gluten free' really means, especially when it takes off the menu: Fish and Chips, Chinese Takeaway, any Burger Chain and ready made Sandwiches, Cakes and biscuits. This normally means that the person is only cutting out bread, Cakes and Pastries..........Given the choice I would not be on a Gluten Free Diet. I have NO choice.
What many people fail to understand is: That this diet is not our choice, we have no choice (see the explanation of Coeliac Disease).
I challenge anybody who thinks this is easy to try and eat out taking into account all the Cross Contamination issues, believe me it takes all the fun out of it, and the lack of understanding from the catering industry is astounding.
Many restaurants and staff have no idea what 'gluten' is and therefore have no idea what contains it. Education is what is needed in the industry that provides us with our food and Restaurants, Chefs, Cafes, Coffee shops and any other retail outlet that deals with food need to understand how difficult living with Coeliac Disease can be, they've done it with nuts, but Coeliac Disease is never mentioned anywhere, we are quite often side lined as fussy, faddy eaters or on a fad diet, none of which is true and that is why we need to change the attitudes of staff. Many people become very seriously ill if restaurants make mistakes, but many of them don't even understand that.
Sometimes I wish the whole thing would go away so I could just go on like I used to and enjoy all food.
I have to accept that I cannot now eat anything I want, and that is very upsetting to me, however knowing I can't change the diagnosis, I can either choose to accept it and move on or I can not accept it and be miserable for the rest of my life...........I know which one is the best option.
Having ups and downs is part of the acceptance process and I believe therefore that this is completely natural. When I have a down day, I just say; Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again!! (tomorrow!) This is the only thing you can do.
Anyone who goes on a 'gluten free diet' by choice does not understand what 'gluten free' really means, especially when it takes off the menu: Fish and Chips, Chinese Takeaway, any Burger Chain and ready made Sandwiches, Cakes and biscuits. This normally means that the person is only cutting out bread, Cakes and Pastries..........Given the choice I would not be on a Gluten Free Diet. I have NO choice.
What many people fail to understand is: That this diet is not our choice, we have no choice (see the explanation of Coeliac Disease).
I challenge anybody who thinks this is easy to try and eat out taking into account all the Cross Contamination issues, believe me it takes all the fun out of it, and the lack of understanding from the catering industry is astounding.
Many restaurants and staff have no idea what 'gluten' is and therefore have no idea what contains it. Education is what is needed in the industry that provides us with our food and Restaurants, Chefs, Cafes, Coffee shops and any other retail outlet that deals with food need to understand how difficult living with Coeliac Disease can be, they've done it with nuts, but Coeliac Disease is never mentioned anywhere, we are quite often side lined as fussy, faddy eaters or on a fad diet, none of which is true and that is why we need to change the attitudes of staff. Many people become very seriously ill if restaurants make mistakes, but many of them don't even understand that.
Monday 14 January 2013
A complete rediscovery, and a positive approach
14th January 2013
As you can see from my previous posts I have had a very scary journey to get to where I am now.
I have been involved in Guiding and Scouting since I was 7 and if it's taught me anything, it is that when needs must a bit of imagination can usually overcome an obstacle, sometimes it can have hilarious results too!!
This maxim: Anything is possible with a bit of imagination is what invented my 'edible' Gluten Free Jaffa Cakes!!
As I discover more on my Gluten Free journey, I intend to post here as a kind of Journal so those who are dealing with this condition and have never cooked anything can find very basic quick recipes.
I have 23years of not having anything in the fridge, 2 very hungry children and a very hungry husband!! Food doesn't frighten me and never has, and I have learnt through this journey that many people had no idea how to make a basic sponge cake. Many of the recipes on the packets and in the recipe books seem to have hundreds of ingredients that are unnecessary and that many of us would find at the back of the cupboard years later!! The Victoria Sponge recipe will also make around 24 fairy cakes if its divided between the cake cases.
KISS is also a good thing to live by: Keep It Simple Stupid. Most of my recipes can be done in 1/2 hour or less, the Jaffa Cakes and the Twiglets take longer as they are a bit fiddly, but they're worth it for special occasions.
Like anyone I don't want to spend my life in the kitchen so I've either got to be in the mood to spend all day there, or have a lot of time on my hands!! Those two things rarely happen together.
Quick pizza bases are easily rustled up out of GF Naan Bread and you can make it interesting by using the flavoured variety if you can find them!!
Don't get disheartened there is tasty Gluten Free food out there, and if you can't find it have a go at inventing it, I found my Karma, but I often find solace in the kitchen sometimes aimlessly stirring to make a sauce is the space I need to clear my head!!
As you can see from my previous posts I have had a very scary journey to get to where I am now.
I have been involved in Guiding and Scouting since I was 7 and if it's taught me anything, it is that when needs must a bit of imagination can usually overcome an obstacle, sometimes it can have hilarious results too!!
This maxim: Anything is possible with a bit of imagination is what invented my 'edible' Gluten Free Jaffa Cakes!!
As I discover more on my Gluten Free journey, I intend to post here as a kind of Journal so those who are dealing with this condition and have never cooked anything can find very basic quick recipes.
I have 23years of not having anything in the fridge, 2 very hungry children and a very hungry husband!! Food doesn't frighten me and never has, and I have learnt through this journey that many people had no idea how to make a basic sponge cake. Many of the recipes on the packets and in the recipe books seem to have hundreds of ingredients that are unnecessary and that many of us would find at the back of the cupboard years later!! The Victoria Sponge recipe will also make around 24 fairy cakes if its divided between the cake cases.
KISS is also a good thing to live by: Keep It Simple Stupid. Most of my recipes can be done in 1/2 hour or less, the Jaffa Cakes and the Twiglets take longer as they are a bit fiddly, but they're worth it for special occasions.
Like anyone I don't want to spend my life in the kitchen so I've either got to be in the mood to spend all day there, or have a lot of time on my hands!! Those two things rarely happen together.
Quick pizza bases are easily rustled up out of GF Naan Bread and you can make it interesting by using the flavoured variety if you can find them!!
Don't get disheartened there is tasty Gluten Free food out there, and if you can't find it have a go at inventing it, I found my Karma, but I often find solace in the kitchen sometimes aimlessly stirring to make a sauce is the space I need to clear my head!!
Flavours..........
You will notice that there are ingredients in my cupboard that I would be lost without:
Tins of tomatoes (in season I add fresh ones too.)
Onions (if a whole onion is too much Spring onions are a good substitute)
Garlic
Worcester Sauce/Hendersons Relish.
This is the base of a lot of my savoury dishes.
For Casseroles I don't use the ready made sauces as most of them contain wheat starch.
1 tsp Mustard (wholegrain)
1 tsp Redcurrant Jelly
1 x Knorr vegetable stock Cube
This combination gives most casseroles an interesting flavour. If using beef I will also use
1x glass of Red wine
a couple of teaspoons of horseradish sauce
If you use the tsp of mustard and redcurrant jelly in the water of boiling rice with a splash of Hendersons Relish and wait until the rice has absorbed all the water the flavour is amazing, and a bit sweet and sour.
Tins of tomatoes (in season I add fresh ones too.)
Onions (if a whole onion is too much Spring onions are a good substitute)
Garlic
Worcester Sauce/Hendersons Relish.
This is the base of a lot of my savoury dishes.
For Casseroles I don't use the ready made sauces as most of them contain wheat starch.
1 tsp Mustard (wholegrain)
1 tsp Redcurrant Jelly
1 x Knorr vegetable stock Cube
This combination gives most casseroles an interesting flavour. If using beef I will also use
1x glass of Red wine
a couple of teaspoons of horseradish sauce
If you use the tsp of mustard and redcurrant jelly in the water of boiling rice with a splash of Hendersons Relish and wait until the rice has absorbed all the water the flavour is amazing, and a bit sweet and sour.
Pasta Sauces
Pasta Sauces:
Your basic Cheese Sauce:
1oz GF Flout
1oz Margarine
1/2 pint of Milk
Cheese of choice
Put the flour, margarine and milk in a milk saucepan, and put on gentle heat, stir in a figure of eight motion until you see it thicken. Do not stop stirring, as this will give you a lumpy sauce.
With this method I very rarely get a lumpy sauce. Just make sure that it doesn't thicken or start to go lumpy by heating too fast, if this happens add a splash of milk straight from the fridge!!
When the sauce has thickened, grate your cheese and add to the sauce stir until its melted in. Pour over the Pasta and enjoy.
If you like interesting flavours try: Blue Cheese or add 1tsp of any of the following:
Marmite
Mustard
Chilli Powder
Worcester Sauce or Hendersons Relish
BBQ sauce
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
Equal amounts of Honey, Vinegar, Ketchup and to bulk it out a tin of tomatoes if you need it to go further.
Fry the onion and garlic until soft, add the honey, vinegar and ketchup and heat until the sauce has reduced by 1/2 add to Pasta.
This makes a good chutney if you reduce the liquid further so that it goes sticky. It goes really well with cheese and I would imagine it would go well with a Burger as a relish.
Your basic Cheese Sauce:
1oz GF Flout
1oz Margarine
1/2 pint of Milk
Cheese of choice
Put the flour, margarine and milk in a milk saucepan, and put on gentle heat, stir in a figure of eight motion until you see it thicken. Do not stop stirring, as this will give you a lumpy sauce.
With this method I very rarely get a lumpy sauce. Just make sure that it doesn't thicken or start to go lumpy by heating too fast, if this happens add a splash of milk straight from the fridge!!
When the sauce has thickened, grate your cheese and add to the sauce stir until its melted in. Pour over the Pasta and enjoy.
If you like interesting flavours try: Blue Cheese or add 1tsp of any of the following:
Marmite
Mustard
Chilli Powder
Worcester Sauce or Hendersons Relish
BBQ sauce
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove chopped
Equal amounts of Honey, Vinegar, Ketchup and to bulk it out a tin of tomatoes if you need it to go further.
Fry the onion and garlic until soft, add the honey, vinegar and ketchup and heat until the sauce has reduced by 1/2 add to Pasta.
This makes a good chutney if you reduce the liquid further so that it goes sticky. It goes really well with cheese and I would imagine it would go well with a Burger as a relish.
Recipes, now time for the savouries.
Gluten Free twiglets....ish
Makes 8oz/250g 150 C in top shelf 2
baking sheets covered with Aluminium foil.
1 Cup GF plain flour (I used the
Glutafin White Mix, as that is what was in the Cupboard!!)
¼ tsp Salt
2oz of butter
approx 1 cup of milk (I didn't use
anywhere near that much!!)
Marmite
Add flour and Salt to a mixing bowl,
rub in butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add ¼ tsp of Marmite to the milk
Slowly mix in the milk to the breadcrumb mixture until it forms a
soft but not sticky dough.
Turn out onto a very lightly floured
top and knead gently for a few minutes. Form into a ball and take
bits off to roll into twig like sausages. The easiest way to do this
is to take small balls of dough and roll them into sausages between
your hands, that way they are uneven and it doesn't matter if they
break. The more uneven the better!! Put these onto the baking tray.
In a saucepan put in ½ to 1 tsp of
Marmite, with a teeny dribble of water. With a pastry brush cover
the bottom of the saucepan with the Marmite, and then dab what is on
the brush on to your twigs as liberally as you can.
Place in the oven and cook for around
10mins, until golden and crispy. As soon as you remove from the oven
dab on more of the Marmite mixture and leave to cool (if you can!!)
I found this was the best way to get the flavour to stick, and they
have the same effect as a bag of Twiglets, ie once you start you keep
coming back for more...........!!
Remove from baking tray and put in an
airtight container, obviously if you want more double the
ingredients.
The great thing about these is they
don't need to be uniform, it doesn't matter if they break and they're
good for you!!!
PIZZA
I make my own bases. Wasn't sure if this was going to work, but I have found with the Flour mix (Juvela) I discovered that they turn out quite well. Juvela actually produce their own automatic Bread Machine recipe book which I use with my Panasonic BUT if you have this make of bread machine there are recipes in the back of the recipe book that comes with it that cover Glutafin/Juvela/ and the Doves Farm Flours too. I didn't even know I had a Gluten Free setting on my machine and I don't use it. However if you don't want to make your own base here's the recipe for the topping incl the sauce.
1/2 an onion
1 Clove of garlic
Dried Basil
Fresh Basil
Gluten Free Worcester Sauce or Hendersons Relish
1 lge tin of tomatoes
Chop the onion and garlic and fry in a saucepan until soft. Add 1/2 the tin of tomatoes, Basil (huge pinch of both dried and Fresh) a splash of Worcester sauce and simmer until the sauce has reduced by 1/2. This is enough for a Pizza which is big enough for 4 greedy adults!! It will smell divine, and when the sauce has reduced spread liberally on your pizza base. Add toppings of your choice, and then grate over a mature Cheddar Cheese. Put in the oven until the cheese has browned if using pre done bases, if you make your own cook for 20mins Gas 4/160oC until the base is cooked.
More recipes..........
Having found my Karma in the Kitchen the Scout in me kicked in. I had tried the commercially available gluten free Jaffa Cakes, and without a word of a lie, they were absolutely disgusting, nothing like the tangy Mc Vities variety, I had to do something about that!!
6oz Juvela white mix
1/2 tsp bicarb and 1/2 tsp cream of
tartar
6oz Juvela white mix
6oz Margarine
6oz
Sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp bicarb and 1/2 tsp cream of
tartar
Put in bowl and whisk.
This will make your sponge base
(I just greased the patty pan holes, and put in one teaspoon of mix
into the patty pan)
1 450g Jar of Seville Marmalade
2 x 100g
Plain Chocolate.
Makes 36
160 degrees/gas 4 for around 5
mins, they do not take long to cook!!!!
Place 1 tsp marmalade
on each sponge and cover with the melted chocolate I need to perfect
this bit I found if I used a teaspoon for the chocolate and a butter
knife you can encase the marmalade. Obviously if you're making for
children, you can always use a milder marmalade and milk chocolate.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a small pan of simmering water. If you can, put them in the fridge when you've covered with the chocolate.......I didn't have room. They are brill and cheaper than the commercial ones!!
Anything is possible with a bit of imagination!!
Turning a negative into a positive
As I had been cooking and baking since I was small, playing around with food was less of a challenge than many people find. I am always messing around with recipes and coming up with different ways of solving problems, usually when I don't have the correct ingredient in the cupboard!!!
Luckily with Pasta and Flour mixes being available to me on prescription I had some basics to play with.
First off was an ordinary Victoria Sponge using the recipe below:
6oz Flour (Doves Farm Gluten Free Self Raising) or Juvela White Mix
6oz Sugar
6oz Margarine
3 eggs
(Juvela white mix only, add 1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda, and the same of Cream of Tartar, or 1 tsp Gluten Free Baking Powder.)
Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix with an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Split the mix between two sandwich tins and bake in the oven Gas 4/160oC for 20mins until golden brown and when pressed will spring back. Put on cooling rack. When cool spread with Jam of your choice (mixed fruit works really well.)
For a chocolate version replace 1oz of flour with 1oz of Green and Blacks hot chocolate powder (GF)
Fill with Buttercream: Cream margarine in a small bowl and add icing sugar until you cannot taste the margarine, again if you want it chocolate add some chocolate powder.
The result was a Victoria Sponge that didn't taste any different to an ordinary one, and people had no idea it was Gluten Free. Quick and Easy.
Scariest time of the year
The scariest time of the year for me had to be the run up to Christmas.............
Nearly everything we take for granted at Christmas contains flour in some form or another;
Christmas Pudding
Christmas Cake
Sausage Rolls
Beer, Lager and Stout
Cheese Straws
Pannetonne
Crackers for cheese
Twiglets
etc, etc...................
If it had pastry, or was Cake or Biscuit, off limits to me. The good news is Wines and Spirits are all gluten free!!
I had everybody coming to me Christmas Day, so I had to get my thinking cap on.
Nearly everything we take for granted at Christmas contains flour in some form or another;
Christmas Pudding
Christmas Cake
Sausage Rolls
Beer, Lager and Stout
Cheese Straws
Pannetonne
Crackers for cheese
Twiglets
etc, etc...................
If it had pastry, or was Cake or Biscuit, off limits to me. The good news is Wines and Spirits are all gluten free!!
I had everybody coming to me Christmas Day, so I had to get my thinking cap on.
So what did I do?
Took a deep breath, and kept things simple.
First off, I went through all my kitchen cupboards to find out what was naturally gluten free, and what was off limits.
Second I emptied a cupboard to put in MY food that I could eat.
Made space in the fridge and employed an indelible pen to write on the margarine and any food that was put in there so only I would be using it.
Went through the Argos Catalogue, bought 2 chopping boards, and a bag of assorted freezer clips total £8!
I also got hold of Lakelands Toasterbags £6.95 (this was a lot cheaper and made more sense than a separate toaster, with 4 adults in the house and an 8ft square kitchen!!)
A full bottle of Fairy!! Its amazing just what a bowl of hot soapy water can achieve, and for small things a roll of kitchen foil.
First off, I went through all my kitchen cupboards to find out what was naturally gluten free, and what was off limits.
Second I emptied a cupboard to put in MY food that I could eat.
Made space in the fridge and employed an indelible pen to write on the margarine and any food that was put in there so only I would be using it.
Went through the Argos Catalogue, bought 2 chopping boards, and a bag of assorted freezer clips total £8!
I also got hold of Lakelands Toasterbags £6.95 (this was a lot cheaper and made more sense than a separate toaster, with 4 adults in the house and an 8ft square kitchen!!)
A full bottle of Fairy!! Its amazing just what a bowl of hot soapy water can achieve, and for small things a roll of kitchen foil.
Reading Labels.........
After that shock, you then go shopping. I had no idea labelling was so confusing, not aided by the information that is sometimes put on the Allergy Advice Box which is contradictory to the list of ingredients!!
Without putting a huge list on here, there are a few surprising things you will find wheat starch/flour in:
Stock Cubes
Sausages
Beefburgers incl 100% Beef ones (yeah I know, doesn't make sense)
Chocolate
Hot Chocolate
Mushroom Soup
Chicken Soup
The list goes on and on, in many fairly standard store cupboard ingredients.
So what did I do?
Without putting a huge list on here, there are a few surprising things you will find wheat starch/flour in:
Stock Cubes
Sausages
Beefburgers incl 100% Beef ones (yeah I know, doesn't make sense)
Chocolate
Hot Chocolate
Mushroom Soup
Chicken Soup
The list goes on and on, in many fairly standard store cupboard ingredients.
So what did I do?
Lifelong 'strict' Gluten Free Diet
How do you think that made me react?
Answer: Aaaarrrrrghhhh!!! How, What, Where, Oh help where do I start?
To which the medical profession didn't seem to have the answers. The Coeliac UK website was of much more help, but some of the advice on there was even more scary than not knowing at all!!
Gluten Free : This means that I cannot eat anything which contains Wheat, Rye, Barley or Oats or any of their derivatives.
'Strict': Means that I cannot even have the smallest crumb of anything which contains the ingredients above.
What you have to think like is as if I had a very severe nut allergy, where even the slightest amount of oil could put my life at risk. This is how I have to deal with the issue of Cross Contamination.
Then you start reading labels: Boy is that an eye opener.
Answer: Aaaarrrrrghhhh!!! How, What, Where, Oh help where do I start?
To which the medical profession didn't seem to have the answers. The Coeliac UK website was of much more help, but some of the advice on there was even more scary than not knowing at all!!
Gluten Free : This means that I cannot eat anything which contains Wheat, Rye, Barley or Oats or any of their derivatives.
'Strict': Means that I cannot even have the smallest crumb of anything which contains the ingredients above.
What you have to think like is as if I had a very severe nut allergy, where even the slightest amount of oil could put my life at risk. This is how I have to deal with the issue of Cross Contamination.
Then you start reading labels: Boy is that an eye opener.
Coeliac Disease
In September I had to take in an awful lot of information and deal with my emotions, which were all over the place I was scared and felt very lonely.
So what is Coeliac Disease?
Contrary to popular belief it is not an intolerance or allergy to wheat and gluten. It is an autoimmune disorder which is triggered by the ingestion of any food stuff which contains gluten, and as such is recognised as a serious medical condition. The only treatment is a lifelong 'strict' gluten free diet. Other autoimmune disorders that you will be aware of are Diabetes (no one knows what triggers this) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (again it is not known what triggers this response) The difference is these two diseases can be treated with drugs albeit lifelong, but these are much more accepted as serious medical conditions by the general populous than Coeliac Disease. This NEEDS to change.
If Coeliac Disease is left untreated it can kill. The reason is, that the gut damage the gluten causes prevents the absorption of the nutrients from the food that is eaten and eventually this causes malnutrition, and therefore eventually death if not caught.
So what is Coeliac Disease?
Contrary to popular belief it is not an intolerance or allergy to wheat and gluten. It is an autoimmune disorder which is triggered by the ingestion of any food stuff which contains gluten, and as such is recognised as a serious medical condition. The only treatment is a lifelong 'strict' gluten free diet. Other autoimmune disorders that you will be aware of are Diabetes (no one knows what triggers this) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (again it is not known what triggers this response) The difference is these two diseases can be treated with drugs albeit lifelong, but these are much more accepted as serious medical conditions by the general populous than Coeliac Disease. This NEEDS to change.
If Coeliac Disease is left untreated it can kill. The reason is, that the gut damage the gluten causes prevents the absorption of the nutrients from the food that is eaten and eventually this causes malnutrition, and therefore eventually death if not caught.
Why is this blog called a Stressful Adventure with food?
Back in March I was having trouble feeling right and believed I was anaemic.......what that led to was a complete Shock and a completely new way of thinking about eating.
I was right I was anaemic but this answer actually led to more questions, I was deficient in Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid......and the pernicious anaemia (when you can't absorb B12) test came back as Normal.
What was going on? I was eating all the right things, and taking in enough of both of these substances, so the big question was WHY wasn't I hanging on to it?
At the suggestion of my GP I had a blood test to screen for Coeliac Disease. To my mind this was completely obviously going to come back negative, as I never had any problems with eating anything at all.
June 2012: The results to your blood test have come back positive for Coeliac Disease, I was told over the phone at 5pm on a Friday evening. To say I was confused was an understatement, and extremely shocked, as I hadn't expected that at all.
Aug 2012: Confirmation biopsy.
Sept 2012: Results of the above, biopsy confirms the blood test. I was still reeling from June, so this confirmation was upsetting and confusing, and the support out there for this condition is very minimal
I was right I was anaemic but this answer actually led to more questions, I was deficient in Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid......and the pernicious anaemia (when you can't absorb B12) test came back as Normal.
What was going on? I was eating all the right things, and taking in enough of both of these substances, so the big question was WHY wasn't I hanging on to it?
At the suggestion of my GP I had a blood test to screen for Coeliac Disease. To my mind this was completely obviously going to come back negative, as I never had any problems with eating anything at all.
June 2012: The results to your blood test have come back positive for Coeliac Disease, I was told over the phone at 5pm on a Friday evening. To say I was confused was an understatement, and extremely shocked, as I hadn't expected that at all.
Aug 2012: Confirmation biopsy.
Sept 2012: Results of the above, biopsy confirms the blood test. I was still reeling from June, so this confirmation was upsetting and confusing, and the support out there for this condition is very minimal
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