Don't be too black, don't be too gay, just get a little duller

When I go to the respiratory clinic at Glasgow Royal I have to take a wheelchair with me. I can walk a little but it's a hell of a distance from the carpark to get to where I needed to go and I simply can't walk it. I hate it but have got used to being pushed about now and don't get all huffy about it.

I noticed something very odd yesterday though - the number of people who smile at you when you're wheelchair bound is quite startling. Often there's a little nod of the head as well. I don't recall people being so friendly when I've been walking about.

I don't want to analyse it too much to be honest, I was just amused by it.

So the craic from the hospital is that they are now happy with my weight and are happy to put me forward for transplant, but we now need to repeat a lot of the tests we had done 6 months ago so they're more up to date which will take a few weeks and then I go back to the respiratory consultant in 4 weeks to tie up the referral protocol and it gets sent away to Newcastle.

This is genuine progress and I am thrilled although it does mean I have to do lung function tests again which I loathe.

The last set I had done weren't fun and this won't be any better. One of the tests last time I recorded a figure of 16% of what I should have been able to achieve with functioning lungs. Numbers like that are pretty terrifying but explain a lot.

I had a look at my last CT scan as well and the subtlety of the damage is amazing. It's all in the smallest structures within the lungs rather than being something clear and obvious.

So there's real, tangible progress now and it's made a difference already. I just feel happier, although that was also aided by my best friend being home from Bratislava over the past few days so I got to spend some time with him.

Still tired though, and with that in mind I'm off for a snooze