Saturday 17 November 2012

Extra Large

Clinic went well today (despite the long wait at the beginning), so here's a wee summary!

Lung function is about the same as clinic 6 weeks ago - 56% FEV1 and 80% FVC. I always write down both because most of the time people just say one and I have absolutely no clue which one they're referring to! FEV1 is how much you blow in the first second, and is a good indicator of how your airways are - ie tight etc. FVC is the capacity - so 80% of my lungs are working! I know CF guys will know all this, but for those not in this weird and wonderful little world that's the low down. I'm very chuffed about the capacity - it seems to be getting increasingly better which is quite odd for CF. Physio said it's definitely the cycling. 56% is apparently OK for me (last year was averaging down in the mid 40's), but I like to have the two readings at the most 20% apart... there's a little bit of OCD creeping in...! (You can see how much my FVC has improved then too... the 20% difference I used to have would make that reading in the 60's!) So i'm going to give these fickle, sensitive airways a talking to and make them chill out. 

Weight was up! By 2kg! In 6 weeks! I really have no idea how that happened since my appetite has fluctuated drastically over the last few weeks, spending more time on the 'non-existant-side' rather than the 'gimme-the-bloody-chocolate-cake-side'. If I think logically, every time my appetite has decided to show up I make the most of it, and shove anything fatty and calorific down my gob. A couple of days ago, for example, I fried up a whole tin of spam. A whole tin. Thats just over 1000 calories, with the oil. I am not kidding one little bit. And then I heated up some pasta and put lots of butter and a bit of cheese and ketchup on it. But even with calorific monstrosities such as that, I didn't think it'd make up for all the days I haven't been eating much at all. *All hail the spam*. 

The doc then flicked through my notes and said that this time last year, I was 43kg. 9kg in a year! That's just under 1 1/2 stone! Again, mega happy me! I do think a chunk of that is liver + spleen, we guess 3 or 4 kilos, which is quite daunting. I've never physically noticed any weight gain (like ever), however last week I unearthed a pair of jeans I used to wear all the time at uni and HELLO couldn't even fit them over my leg! I thought they had shrunk and swore at them for being so crap, before flinging them across the room with a rather annoying melodramatic flair  ("Oh! my trusty jeans how could you do this to me!"), but now I take it all back. It was me, not them! *All blame the spam*

We then had a delightful little chat about bowel habits and gastrograffin. I'll spare you the details. (But gastrograffin was the reason I had to wait at pharmacy for 45 minutes when i'd rather of been having a McDonalds. I got the chicken nuggets eventually, thank fuck.)

So a pretty productive check-up. Not productive in a phlegmy sort of way, dry as a bone I was. Have to do a cough swab almost every time (!) (You want my gunk? You not getting my gunk!) I hate mucus. Eurgh.

2 comments:

  1. Heyyyyy I thought I commented on this already! Well I deff read it anyway. I'm glad clinic went so well, I'm feeling more inspired than ever now to start a bit of exercising! The trouble with me is exercise = weight loss no matter how much I eat. Massive well done on the weight gain too, CF is crap but don't you love how much rubbish we can eat and not feel at all guilty? And you have an excuse to treat yourself to a new pair of jeans now! xxx

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  2. I don't know too much about CF but it sounds like things are going pretty good with that. Now just to fix the liver! You haven't posted in a while, I hope all is well! xox

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