Hospital stay, weight gain, stable liver... Good news :D

I went in hospital on Monday and then came home Thursday, nice quick stay, seemed to go pretty fast as I knew I was going on Thursday, when you know the end is in sight, it does make it a lot more tolerable.

I was admitted to try a soya-based feed as they are pretty sure I'm allergic to milk protein, as opposed to lactose intolerant. Also I was going to have a 3 day glucose monitor on which checks your blood sugar every 3 minutes, this would give them an idea of whether my sugars go high/low during the day or night and particularly, what they do when on feed as it has no sugar, but is very high in carbohydrates. I was also having my feeding tube changed, having the stitches taken out and going for an ultrasound scan of my liver/kidney/spleen to see if my liver disease has got any worse/better etc. Finally, I was being started on a tablet which has a known side effect of weight gain and an increase in appetite...

So firstly, the feed - seemed to go very well, I tolerated 750mls for two nights, then tonight I'm going to try 1000mls which unfortunately, is not as calorific as the first feed, 1000mls = 1000 calories, so to get upto 2000 calories of the feed I'll be needed 2Litres, which seems pretty scary but hopefully I'll get there eventually! I'm now on Nutrison Soya which seems to be working much better for me, which means no horrific side effects and I can actually keep the feed down and still want to eat at the same time, perfect!

Secondly, the glucose tests. I won't know the results as they took it off just before I went home, but they will upload the results onto the computer and put them into a graph, so we can see exactly the pattern my sugars have, if they have one at all! I'm going to clinic after my family holiday to Butlins, where I will also be testing a new nebuliser which is only given to people who are very sick as it is super expensive!

I had my tube change appointment cancelled because of a traffic jam, meaning Josh took 5 and a half hours to get to Papworth, which meant my hospital transport was also caught up. It was changed to Thursday.
I had my stitches out first, which had been in a little bit longer than they should so they didn't come out as easy as they could, but still not really painful. The tube change was so simple, literally deflate the little balloon inside, pull it out, clean the area, put new tube in! Pain-free, easy peasy, done :)
I had my scan done and the good news was that there was no significant changes compared to my last few scans, my liver has not got worse and is remaining stable, which is good :) they've said at the moment there is no need to change anything and they are happy to continue having yearly check ups! The not so good news, was that they found a couple of small kidney stones, which I'm gutted about because I'm worried these could be the sort of things which might mean I can't have a transplant, I'm working so hard focusing on my weight and diabetes, then something annoying like my kidney could mess is all up :( Hopefully, they will pass quickly and by the time transplant comes, it will be a thing of the past :)...

Finally and probably most important - this tablet. It is called Olanzapine and is a tablet used in mental-health situations, particularly for Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder. I have always suffered with depression and Mum is convinced I have bipolar (thanks Mum) so this tablet which I've been prescribed because it has a very common side effect of gaining 10 pounds in 10 weeks, may help in more ways than one.
It is also a calming/sleeping tablet and I find myself feeling very tired after taking it which is good because my sleeping is terrible at the moment.
I also feel absolutely STARVING all of the time, lately I haven't fancied food much at all because my chest is playing up and when you have no energy and feel rubbish, food is the last thing on your mind. But anyway to show you what it has done I'll tell you my 'meals' that I ate yesterday..
I wasn't allowed to eat until after I'd had my peg change and scan, so I wasn't eating until 12pm.
I had.. Lunch - A burger king, cheeseburger, chips, a coke, Jaffa cakes, 2 packs of crisps.
Afternoon - Mcdonalds burger, strawberry milkshake.
Dinner - Spaghetti bologanise.
Evening - Oxtail soup.
Night - Feed.

&Various other snacks and stuff - In total I had 3500 calories!

Then today after a 3 course meal out with friends, I weighed 6 stone 4.2 which is the highest weight I've been for a very very long time. (I also feel very hungry now, after a 3 course meal! It's madness, lol).. I'm now about to attempty 1000mls of feed, which will hopefully boost the weight! I'm so happy right now, my weight has made me feel fantastic. I noticed today my jeans actually felt tight, my cheeks look a bit chubbier and I don't have to try and make them look bigger with make up, they are naturally like that! Everything just is getting better. Except my chest, which is getting significantly worse day-by-day.

The worst bit about the hospital stay was my lung function, I had 4 attempts at checking it. The first 2 tries, I got 17% 3rd time 18% but I was determined to get over 20 so I had a 10 minute break, relaxed my lungs a bit, then blew the hardest I have in my entire life and managed to get 22% which is equal to my worst lung function ever, but much better than 17% ..the main problem was that after that attempt my oxygen levels dropped to 80% because I really over-worked myself and almost passed out, oops! :P

As I always say, it's not all doom and gloom. Lungs may be rubbish and I have some annoying little stones taking up residence in my kidney, but my weight is better, my liver is stable, my appetite is through the roof, I feel good about myself at the moment and life is (almost) okay :)

Thank you for reading!
xxx