A real update, finally! (With fat girl pictures!)

I've been very absent the past few days but lots of things have been going on. I'll make a bulleted list of all the IRL drama to explain:

• I stopped the Solu-Medrol infusions on Friday the 21st and I'm on oral prednisone for a month now, per standard exacerbation procedure. I'm feeling better, but the prednisone tends to make me both wired and erratically depressed lately, so it's kind of a roller coaster ride.
  
• I'm hungry and would also like to eat the world thanks to the steroids.
• My partner and caregiver (who worked for 20 years of her life) has applied for Social Security Disability (due to an autoimmune disease, a knee that's been wrecked for half her life, and severe depression) and we're currently working toward letting the government do its job for her. This is different than my SSI experience so I'm expecting more trouble for her than I had, but it's going mostly okay so far.
• Said partner is terrified of doctors, though, and hasn't seen any in about 15 years. She had to see two in the past two weeks for Medicaid, both of which were nasty to her. The second diagnosed her as depressed, though, so she will receive Medicaid benefits in a month, which she needs. (I have been on Medicaid for a year; it's the only way I get my medication.)
• My partner will see two more doctors this Monday in St. Louis (what a drive!) for the Social Security disability determination, and I'm trying to manage our combined stress as best I can until then. If you have any good thoughts to send, please pass them her way.
  
• Back to MS, I have also decided to go on Tysabri and took my last Copaxone injection today. That means I have a month before I can get an infusion. I have an appointment with my doctor on Tuesday to fill out the paperwork.
• I'm scared, but really excited about the new drug. I've heard some wonderful things about Tysabri that I hope (realistically) will happen with me.
  

Now that that's out of the way, has everyone checked out the awesomeness that is Sweet Machine's Challenge at Shapely Prose and The Rotund's Guessing Game? There are follow ups and they're all excellent reads. (Much better than anything by this douchebag, as reported by Kate, anyway.) There are graphs, even, which confuse me but seem to amuse and fascinate other people. So go read! Read read read, okay, before I get hit with the old meme stick.

Also, though I've never lied about my weight, I thought I should post a couple of photos here to show you all what a 5'0", 240lb woman looks like. You can click on the thumbs for bigger pictures:


Me in May,
maybe 10lbs heavier.


Me a week ago,
at my current weight.
(With new glasses!)


So yep, that's me, with my 46.9 BMI and my morbid obesity. And despite all this, from my last series of checkups, it's apparent that I'm not gonna keel over from diabetes, heart disease, or a stroke anytime soon. And you know what? Even if I was, it wouldn't make me any less of a human being deserving basic respect.

I believe Health at Every Size is a great idea, and it's probably the best route for people as a whole. But I'm going to admit right now (without any shame) that I'm not a terribly great practitioner of it myself, but I'm still alive, and still here, and I still have a body and a mind and feelings and that makes me a person. So whether I do yoga and eat a balanced diet, or (more likely) sit on my ass at the computer having a bowl of butter noodles for every meal, you can't tell a person from a picture.

Going around pointing at someone saying "they're not healthy!" because of how they look is stupid and makes no sense. First of all, just admit you don't care about health at all - you loathe the fat and want to hide it behind some kind of patronizing concern for us, as if we need your "help." Secondly, considering all the misses at Guess the Rotund's Weight, you probably have no earthly idea what X amount of weight looks like in the first place, douchebag, and X amount of weight does not fucking equal X amount of probability of disease, activity level, "good vs bad" eating, or any of that crap.

... Okay, I'm tired of writing. I have a vet appointment in three hours and an art festival to drag myself to in the afternoon. I gotta get some rest while there's still time.

This message has been brought to you by... a lot of other people, really, on whose generous coattails I'm riding. Thanks for reading.