Twenty-five week weigh in

I weighed in at 101kgs/15stones 12½lbs/222.5 pounds this morning, which was a great weight loss after not much for a few weeks and takes me down in the 15 stones which is brilliant! 

I have been taking the antibiotics now for a week and have another week to go.  Certainly my bowel, although not right, is reacting much better now than it was. 

I am now eating a wider variety of foods, although obviously I am not having milk products because of my lactose intolerance except on two occasions when I took a product from Holland & Barrett called Zygest, a super lactase enzyme - Aspergillus oryzae.  When I took it I didn't have the stomach cramps or gas, but I did still have diarrhoea though this might be because I hadn't then started the antibiotics. 

Zygest - details here:

Three capsules before eating/drinking a milk product.  The capsules contain:
Lactase Enzyme (Aspergillus oryzae)	375mg
(equivalent to 5,250 FCC units)

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Directions:

For people with lactose intolerance whether eating at home or eating out. Take one to three capsules just before eating a meal, foodor drink that contains lactose. Also take one capsule with medication orvitamins that contain lactose. Lactase should be taken internally and notbe added directly to milk or other dairy products.

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Other Ingredients:

Soya Bean Oil, Lactase Enzyme, Capsule Shell (Gelatine,Glycerine, Sweetener (Sorbitol), Colour (Titanium Dioxide)), Emulsifier(Soya Lecithin), Thickener (Yellow beeswax).

Contains (or contains an ingredient/s derivedfrom) wheat/gluten, nuts, soya and sulphites. 
These capsules were brought over from the UK for me by my son as it's not possible to buy a product like this in France according to my pharmacy and doctor.

On New Year's day I went for an hour's walk with my neighbours.  This morning, after doing the animals, I walked down to the bridge at the end of my village.  My neighbour stopped to talk to me as she drove back home with her newspaper and baguette.  Then I met three walkers who had already walked from St Nicolas du Pélem - 4-5 miles from that end of the village - by 9.20am.  To arrive at the bridge there is a very steep descent.  Obviously, coming home I had to climb this hill and it wasn't easy.  My Peugeot 307 struggles getting up this short, sharp incline and so did I.  It was all worth it however.   It took me fifty minutes from my field to the bridge and back home and, for me, it was a good walk.  Here's the mill stream which the bridge crosses.

  

I hardly made a decision to walk rather than go straight home.  I just unconsciously started walking in the other direction.  I love the fact that I can walk more than fifty paces without pain, without a stick and without worrying about getting back.  It's a freedom I haven't enjoyed for so many years that it's almost a new experience.  

Today I had to go for blood tests because my parathormone level is very high.  Last June I had a tumour on one of my parathyroid glands removed and it looks as if there may be a problem again.  I should get the blood tests results back later this week and if the level is still so high then it might mean surgery again.  It's something I could without - life is sent to try us sometimes!