Weighting Around

Every month I go to see the doctors at the Beatson Oncology Centre and they assess my condition in regards to the level by which my errant immune system is attacking my body. The lung damage, as I've mentioned before, is permanent but the manifestations of GvHD on my skin are reversible and so far topical treatments seem to be dealing with that ok. Having said that it has surfaced on my scalp for the first time which is incredibly irritating but I have a lotion to try now to see if that helps.

For the most part it's just my arms that are affected by a rash but my skin is now very sensitive and flares up red with even slight contact and remains that way for a while after.

The other issue that today threw up is that I am still a little short (boom boom) of the weight I need to be before I can be considered for the transplant. I am closer to it but I have an appointment at the end of the month with the respiratory folk (who ignorantly don't answer questions from my other doctors about aspects of my treatment) who control whether I get referred so I want to reach their mark within that time or it may be another three months before I get referred. It's not the end of the world if I don't make it but I am desperately keen to get things moving now. So I have been prescribed a drug that should artificially inflate my weight for as long as it's needed. It's an anti-psychotic drug as it happens but one of its side effects is weight gain so a small dose, which won't have a psychological effect, should be enough to push my weight up a little bit higher and hopefully do it quite quickly.

Any time I mention my weight problems and how difficult I find it to put weight on there's a rush for people to tell me how lucky I am and how I can have some of theirs if I want it. Perhaps funny the first time but it begins to wear slightly at the four thousandth telling. I know they're just trying to lighten the situation but I sometimes think people don't realise that weight issues aren't the sole preserve of those with too much of it.

It's almost like there's a pecking order where the overweight carry more clout than the underweight.

Oh aye and while I'm ranting I can do without hearing that I must rattle when I walk due to the amount of tablets I take as well. I'm not sure that's ever been funny to be honest.

Feel tired after being out at the hospital today - may well fall asleep quite early tonight.