Up The Farway Tree

MOT

I had my annual review this week, or "MOT" as its sometimes called by the CF team (oh, how witty). If I was a car, I guess I would have been declared unroadworthy and towed to the scrapyard. Thankfully I am not a car. Actually overall things were not too bad, and I have stayed reasonably stable over the past year, albeit at a lower level than before, but by no means on a slippery slope. It was a long afternoon, starting with exercise tests consisting of a 6 minute walk and a 3 minute step test. The 6 minute walk is basically 2 cones set out in the corridor, and you have to walk back and forth between them for 6 minutes trying to cover as much distance as possible, whilst having oxygen levels and pulse monitored. I did manage to finish it, although found it much harder than last year, and my oxygen levels dipped more than previously. The step test is simply that - stepping up and down for 3 minutes. I only managed 1 minute, but that's not a huge difference to before, since the step test is much harder than the walk test. I then had full lung function tests, which take about 1 hour in total and are incredibly boring and surprisingly tiring. My lung function was 0.69L, which calculates at about 23% of normal. I had hoped for a little more having just finished IV antibiotics last week, however in fairness it appears to have been stable around this level for about 6 months and was only a few percent higher last year. Stable is good. On a much more positive note however, my weight has gone up a kilo courtesy of M+S, tesco carrot cake and banana nesquick. Did you know that a tiny (and I mean tiny) slice of carrot cake has 210 calories? Winner.

So, overall the doctor was happy with my current level, and I just have to continue as I am doing and stay as well as possible for the transplant. The only new thing I have to try is using oxygen when exercising with the physiotherapist at the hospital, as it will hopefully allow me to exercise for longer and thus gain more benefit on a fitness level. There is no need for me to use oxygen at home, as sitting at rest my levels are reasonably good, and I can wander about the house at my own pace. There could be an argument for using oxygen when walking about, but on balance the energy exerted carting the cylinders about (which are not very portable) would outweigh any benefits at the moment. I am more than happy with this assessment, as oxygen use would have a huge impact on my daily life, and if I can avoid this, then all the better.

Now that I have bored everyone with the intricate details of my clinic review, I will bore you further with a Seb anecdote.

Seb: "The moody dog"

I am trying to watch TV (something quality like Richard and Judy I believe). Seb is annoying me by bringing various toys over and shaking them at me, squeaking them at me, and generally trying to entice me into play. After 5 minutes I give in, and start wrestling a large squeaky cow from him. The play continues for about 3 minutes, when suddenly Seb drops the toy, sits on the floor and stares at me with a furrowed brow. I shake the toy, I squeak the toy, I bop him on the head with the toy. He does not even blink. Clearly I have done something radically out with the rules of the game but I am not sure what, as only Seb knows what the rules of the game are. He continues to stare for several more minutes, before I intervene and ask for 'a paw' hoping to lighten the mood. He now stares straight past me, and becomes suddenly deaf. I ask again. I ask for a third time, and as well as being deaf, he now becomes intently interested in his back paw. I ask for a fourth time, in a loud commanding voice. He continues to stare past me, and lifts the paw about 2cm from the carpet, whilst sighing loudly. I kid you not. I'm not sure that this is normal dog behaviour?