Thursday 27 December 2012

Week 3, but Week 1 in terms of the new regime!


This morning I took the dressing off the first muscle tissue biopsy and I have the neatest little scar which looks less that a slight brush with one of Albie's tiny claws - very neat, and the massive bruises (one is 13 x 5 cm!) on my tummy are starting to fade, at last.

The diet regime is going well, but I need to check if my fat/proteins/carbohydrates proportions are correct. It's a struggle to eat 7 portions of bread/potato/beans a day :-(

Christmas Day was difficult as drink was involved, but I managed to limit myself to one glass of Prosecco and one very small glass of dessert wine with the delicious pudding made by Maurice's sister!

My starting weight on Monday was 77kg.


Sunday 23 December 2012

Good news!

The good news is that I am in the intervention group, not the control group, so I will be required to lose 3.98kg over the next 12 weeks.

I have been given 12 pages of dietary instructions and I am in the process of building a database of nutritional values of the foods I eat regularly. It's quite a slog, but once I've entered the data it should be easier - and by the end of the 12 weeks I should be able to guess weights and values!

I lost 6lbs during last week - let's hope I don't put it all on again :-)



Thursday and Friday

The heater in my room was making things a bit more comfortable, and over the two days I drank two big glasses of vanilla-tasting carbs/proteins/fats mix, cycled for 30 minutes, had the inside of my cheek scraped, and had a lot of blood taken and two more adipose fat and muscle tissue biopsies, and by the end I was so blasé about having them done I read my book during the last procedure!

I have massive bruises on my abdomen from the adipose fat biopsies - one of them is 13 x 5 cm but they are healing well and I can remove the dressings on Monday. The muscle tissue biopsy sites are still a bit tender but no longer bleeding and those dressings can come off next Friday.

Unfortunately I picked up a bad cold.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

My veins conked out :-(

By the 4th lot of blood-taking the vein in my left arm declared itself useless, so a fresh canula was put in my right, which conked out during the 6th session. A needle was used for the 7th.

I got the shakes and went all weepy so my temperature was taken and my throat inspected but it turned out that I simply freezing cold so they got me a radiator.

The day brightened up with a visit from Santa - one of the nurses cleverly disguised in a Santa hat!

If this is how it is for human volunteers I hate even more how it must be for animals who don't know why.

Week 2, Day 2

Just blood-letting today. I have a canula on the inside of the my left elbow and have to type with my arm straight so it feels a bit odd.

I've had a glucose drink, and 3 of the day's 7 lots of bloods done so I'm feeling a bit light-headed so must drink more water.

The dressing on my thigh has been changed - the wound is a bit lumpy and swollen, and sore, but will get better!

Excavations and blood-letting - 5

OK - I won't deny it - the muscle tissue biopsy site on my thigh hurts. I should have left the hospital before the Lidacaine wore off but I didn't so by the time I reached the road walking was painful. The tummy wound is fine but has a beautiful bruise the size of a tennis ball! I told him I wanted to take Arnica but the very idea was scoffed at.

Apparently the thigh pain will last 24 hours.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

Blood-letting and excavations - 4

OK - the excavations have been done - painlessly, apart from the little scratch when the local anasthetic went in.

The adipose fat collection was fine and it's a small incision on my tummy but apparently I have fat that is 4cm deep (personally I think that's nonsense - surely he means 4mm!) on my thigh so to get the muscle tissue he had to go quite deep to get through the fascia (spelling?) which coats the muscle. Both incisions are covered with dressings and I have on a compression stocking, and spare dressings to take home with me. I'm also carrying home an empty petrol can, 4 ice packs and a conveniently shaped jug!

When they said I would be out of here by 14:30 I thought I could have gone to work - but there's no way I'm taking the petrol can with me to the office.

I've had something to eat and I'm on my way home now. Catch up with more news tomorrow when I'm back for more tests and measurements but no excavations until Thursday!

BTW - they need more volunteers!

Blood-letting and excavations - 3

My BMI and my body fat percentage have been measured and I have been found to be fat – no surprise there then, and I’ll admit it – 27.5 and 41.75%. My blood pressure has been taken, and my height (169cm) and my weight (79.9kg) noted.

I’ve been in a Calorimeter (20 boring minutes of plastic hood over head and  no talking) to check my resting breathing levels, and I’ve had three MRI scans – body fat,  lower left leg, and liver – whilst listening to Adele’s 21 album.  
Next up – the excavations. Biopsies of adipose fat and muscle tissue – and they keep asking me if I’m happy to have them done. I keep telling them that ‘happy’ is not really the word I would use!

Blood-letting and excavations - 2

So far I have spat a lot of spit into a vial, had enough blood taken for 18 samples to be shipped to various centres around Europe (this is an EU research project), had the insides of both cheeks scraped with a toothbrush – orange for right, blue for left – and now, deep joy, I find I have to save all my pee for 24 hours which means I have to decant it all into an orange petrol can and carry it back with me tomorrow. At least I won't have to carry today's output around Westfield on my way home as they're giving me a second petrol can!

I haven’t eaten since 20:00 last evening, my stomach is rumbling and it’s only 09:40 L

Blood-letting and excavations - 1

My food diary is printed, my note-book charged, poo and pee collected, and I'm almost ready to go, but first of all I want know which stupid man designed the pee-catcher?

I'm usually pretty bright in the mornings but when the alarm went off at 06:00 and I staggered to bathroom it wasn't until I was mid-flow that remembered that I had to take a sample. Clamp on the pelvic floor muscles and reach behind me for the apparatus. Rip it open and try to read the instructions without my glasses on, but manage to work out that the yellow half-pear shaped bit with the tiny hole plugs into the vial, once the top of the vial is off. Once assembled the whole thing measures about 20 cm and I have to get that beneath me (do stop reading now if this is too much information!) and into the toilet bowl, angled so it would catch the pee.

To cut a long yarn short, I am very glad that my bathroom is very small and the hand-wash basin can be reached whilst sitting on the loo!

I reckon it should take me about 30 minutes to walk up to hospital so I'd better get going. Wish me luck!

Saturday 15 December 2012

Guinea-pig Week 1, Day 3 - nutrition chart


I was told to keep a food diary, but never one to do things by halves I am also recording in a spreadsheet the nutritional value of what I eat. I was surprised to find I was eating less that the recommended intake of 2,000 calories! So why am I fat?


Thursday 13 December 2012

Guinea-pig Week 1, Day 4

It's terrifying how 2 slices of cheese can increase one's fat intake!

Since Monday I have been recording what I eat in a spreadsheet, complete with pie-charts - what other kind would be more appropriate? It's a real eye-opener and it's out with the hummus and in with the tzatziki!

Trying to have the recommended ratio of 3:1:1 of carbs, fat, protein is difficult when you don't want to eat white carbs, but it's making me more adventurous in trying different things out.

Now I'm off to weigh myself!


Monday 10 December 2012

Guinea-pig Week 1, Day 1

Presenting myself at the hospital at 09.30 this morning I lasted a pathetic 15 minutes on a exercise bike wearing an oxygen monitor and having my heart-rate noted at 30 second intervals. 

I have been provided with the necessary kit to take and store poo and urine samples, and given a food diary in which I must note everything I consume during the next 7 days. I am embarrassed to write in it tonight that I have had five Lindor Chocolates (Extra Dark of course!) 

Tomorrow I will do better - especially as there are no Lindors left!

Sunday 9 December 2012

Putting my money where my mouth is

Having spent the past 10 years trying to persuade the Open University Students' Association to get the Open University to stop using animals in education and research, because I believe that research into human health should be carried out on humans, I felt it was time to stump up when my GP put my name forward to Imperial College as a possible candidate for their research into nutrition.

Because I am a person of a certain age, of a certain ethnicity, and I have a BMI within a certain range - oh OK, because I'm fat - Imperial College and I have agreed that I am suitable to be used for their research and tomorrow I take the second step to joining the programme.

I have already had bloods taken, an ECG, been weighed and measured and tomorrow I have to present myself, hungry, at 09.30 for an exercise test and to be issued with a energy monitor and a food diary which I am to keep for a week.

To be honest, I am a bit nervous, not so much about being starved and then cut into for the removal of adipose fat and muscle tissue, but that I may let them down by not completing the whole 15 weeks of the programme.

I'll keep you posted.