Yeah well, that was just plain rude to say the least for me to just drop off the face of the planet like that but I have a (somewhat) legitimate reason for it.
I've been sick. Not the kind of sick that requires a trip to the hospital but the kind of sick that makes you dread getting up to make dinner or even climb out of bed in the morning. Sounds like depression doesn't it? Well that is one of the off shoots of Celiac disease (the inability of the body to process gluten found in wheat, rye and barley.
These particular problems (G. I. issues, general malaise, some depression- more on *that* later.) I've had to deal with in one form or another for as far back as I can remember. After reading Molly Wiezenberg's wonderful Orangette blog and through that Shauna James Ahern's Guten Free Girl blog, the light bulb clicked on and I did some digging around of my own. So that's what been the matter for oh around 40 (!) years!
I went to the doctor and got the blood test as well as some other tests he wanted to do including for thyroid problems (oh joy!). And guess what they all came back negative! "No worries" he says, "we'll do a biopsy of your small intestine." (!?) "We-eeel okay I guess, but when can you do that?" "Three weeks from now." he said cheerfully. "So I'll have to keep on eating gluten for at least another three weeks so as not to skew the test results?" "Yup" "Tell you what Doc, how about I just go gluten free and call you back in three weeks to let you know if it's working or not?" He considered for a moment and said "That works too" So I did and it did (work that is) and I've been gluten free ever since the 1st of September.
Shows you how much damage had been done over the course of 45 yrs though, it's taken this long for all the different symptoms to finally clear up.
Now if I can only figure out GF yeast bread.....
