Back in to hospital next week

So it turns out I will be back in good old Guthrie Ward from Monday. Dad and I saw the specialist on Wednesday and he was initially very reluctant to even mention the concept of transplants, but after a fair old whinge and a bit of pressure from the two of us he seemed to accept that things were really not tolerable as they are and that I fully understand the risks of transplant.

So the upshot is that as of Monday afternoon I will be re-admitted to Kings College Hospital to have another CT scan to check my liver, and then undergo pre-transplant assessment. This apparently involves talking to lots of people (nutritionsts, psychologists, surgeons, etc.) who assess me and check I understand what I'm getting myself into. Also while I'm in they're going to be monitoring my body weight. If necessary they'll try and use the dreaded nasal feeding tube to build me up (my body is not absorbing nutrients properly, particularly fats) at night as well as eating in the day. What fun.

I've ordered a Vodafone 3G data card widget that will let me check my email when I'm in hospital for approximately a million pounds per megabyte (actually not too bad, effectively no contract, card costs 150, then 80p per MB thereafter - massively cheaper than most other places i've found). So you can all email me to your hearts content, though I can't promise to check many websites/MSN messenger for sheer cost!

Just been round to the doctors to collect a repeat prescription for 4 more drugs I'm going through, including some of the dreaded disgusting nutrition drinks, though this time in some of the slightly less outrageously offensive flavours. Next job is to start finding out how to milk the system for some money to help me when my sick pay runs out (soon, very soon), and to help covering my rent and the endless prescription costs. Scroungers r us. Bring on this last weekend of freedom for a while - I might be in hospital for quite a long time.