Ironing out my health problem

Wake at six to feed and toilet Normy and then sleep until eight. When I get up I still feel achey and tired but revive a little after a breakfast of cheese, chorizo, ryvita and strong black coffee. It's a lovely day outside and, after showering and dressing, I drive to Cherry, pick up Dolly and Teddy and arrive on the Westwood at ten fifteen. It is a hot morning, but cool under the shade of the trees in Newbegin Pits. The path through the woods, that was a quagmire a week ago, has now dried out completely. Teddy is off the lead chasing rabbits and Dolly, Norman and I proceed at a leisurely pace until we emerge from the woods. Here I put Teddy back on his lead and let Dolly off to run on the common and say hello to the other dogs. We skirt the edge of the woods hugging the shade, as the heat is tough on Norman, but as we emerge from their lee, a pleasant, cool, northerly breeze, provides some relief for him. At Black Mill we sit on a bench and rest in the shade, until Dolly jumps up beside me to be put back on her lead and then the four of us amble back to the car. When we arrive in Cherry I feel too tired to do any gardening and drive home, calling at the supermarket for more ryvita, cheese, onions and a bottle of wine. We get home for midday, and after unpacking the shopping, I make a pot of tea and put a few oaties on a plate and take these into the garden. Norman has a couple of schmackos, which I have to break up for him as he has no back teeth. The sun is hot, so I put up the umbrella and read the paper and do the sudoku whilst I drink tea and eat my biscuits. After an hour I feel revived a little, it has clouded over and is now warm rather than hot, so I get out the extension lead and the ironing board and begin to catch up on a month's worth of ironing. This demands more tea and an audio book, that I have been listening to intermittently. It is called, "The Log of a Cowboy", by Andy Adams. The true life record of a cattle drive from Mexico to Montana in 1878. It is a librovox recording, which means it was read by volunteers and posted on the web for free. I have three baskets of ironing outstanding and decide to tackle one at a time. After an hour, several cups of tea, and three chapters of my talking book, the basket is finished. After putting my clothes into drawers and folding up and storing the ironing board, I serve lunch. My casserole is still stewing away in the slow cooker, the brown rice and pulses have thickened the gravy and the meat is soft and tender. I make a bowl for Norman and leave it to cool a little, whilst I pour a glass of red wine and then plate mine. We eat in the Garden, although Norman and I have identical meals, he still thinks mine is better than his and whines at my ankles until I have finished my lunch. The casserole was really good and after cleaning my plate, Norman decides to eat his after all. It is now four o'clock and I am feeling tired, so we go indoors and sleep until six. When we get up, Norman wants his dinner before we walk down the lane, so I give him half a bowl of his dog meat. My efforts to slim him down are meeting with limited results, however the conjunctivitis he arrived with, is responding to regular bathing of his eyes with cold tea bags. He likes the feel of them and sits on my knee whilst I clear the sleep from his eyes and then discard the tea bag in the bin. It's another really pleasant summer's evening and people who walk their dogs down to the fields after dinner, are getting to know Norman and stop and chat to us. His reputation as the oldest, greediest dachshund, in the world is spreading and he has never been known to walk past a house where a barbecue is in progress! I am in two minds as to whether I have the energy left to mow the lawns when we get back, but decide to tackle the back garden first and see how I feel. The lawns are small, the major effort is moving the bench, table and chairs and the concrete bird bath before I start. Once I get going, I feel OK, so mow the front as well, finishing off about eight. Perhaps my diet is starting to work, as I have less phlegm, although I am by no means well. I have a doctors appointment at 9:20 tomorrow but have decided I am not going to take any more antibiotics, I just want him/her to monitor my chest, to make sure it doesn't get too bad. The winter before last I had a chest infection from December until April and took seven or eight consecutive doses of antibiotics and was eventually referred to a specialist. The consultant ran a battery of tests and found that my lungs were 20 percent better than average and that I didn't have asthma, despite presenting all the symptoms and having used inhalers for four years. He was certain the problem was coming from my digestive tract, but none of the medication he gave me produced any positive result. In the end it was my dentist who identified the problem. I had a slight lesion at the corner of my mouth, which the doctor said was nothing when I asked about it, but the dentist identified as thrush, ( Candida Albicans). He prescribed a topical cream and after a month the lesion was still there. My GP prescribed a stronger cream, to no effect and still the lesion wouldn't heal. Out of curiosity I googled Candida Albicans and discovered it is a yeast bacterium that is always present in the gut, but if it gets out of balance and overgrows, can trigger an auto immune response and produce asthma like symptoms. A GP had posted a diet that rebalances the gut by drastically reducing the sugar, on which the yeast grows. In desperation I followed this diet, which excludes, sucrose, fructose, lactose and all processed carbohydrates. After a month my lesion healed, and my wheezing was lessening and gradually starting later and later each day. I persisted with the diet for another month and my chest became totally clear. When I saw my consultant, he confirmed I was clear, but seemed unimpressed with the anti- candida diet, as was my GP. The diet is a little tough to live with, and over the last year I have gradually started eating honey, white crusty bread, fruit, etc but not in large amounts. However if staying healthy as I get older means cutting these out, then I have little choice. After mowing I made more tea and oaties and then did a tough puzzle until bedtime.