Every single doc I know loves and hates that show, and to a man or woman, they all watch it religiously. They hate it mainly because of the stupid it puts into laymen's hands. I made a "maybe it's lupus" joke in week two; I spent a lot more time explaining my medical bonafides didn't come from a TV show and that I was on their side.

So what is it?
I am the owner of a rare form of myasthenia which has my immune system fighting the MuSK protein which is a necessary neurotransmitter to get the messages from the nerves to actually fire the muscles. Which is why I'm also very weak overall -- the muscles which require the finest and most coordinated control are the first ones to show problems, so eyes, then swallowing, then... well... apparently the next thing to get really problematic is breathing, though the swallowing problems and inability to really cough already put you at high risk of choking.

Etude of Irony, in three parts

1. SS had been teasing me last year about weight gain from drinking 2 or 3 nightly bottles of Beck's Blue (0% alcohol and tastes like beer). Now as I try to claw myself up from an unintended anorexic 60kg, she's quite happy that one visitor brought me a 6-pack.
2. They tested me for HIV in the first week which had SS a bit nervous. Though I haven't done anything even remotely risky, I did receive 4 units of blood two years ago. Only hours later they started focusing on myasthenia, a problem with an overzealous immune system.
3. I survived my pancreatitis ordeal and fatty liver with all organs intact and functioning at full power. No transplant or even drugs necessary. For myasthenia treatment I'm looking at mestanone, cortisone, calcium supplements, and a course of immunosupressive drugs that my transplant recipient friends here are rather familiar with. Beats choking to death on your own saliva... probably.

Attention TPD infidel: Multiple MRIs, full sequences up to an hour long. Loud as fuck, and with that goddamned head cage. Not in a tunnel but rather 2" under the giant white 7' diameter spaceship disc of WHATDAFUCK IS WITH THE NOISE?!

Attention merekat infidel: I was on double-plus super-secret bestest behaviour for which I was rewarded by better care in the ward. I went to this hospital because as SS wrote, I had been there a couple of months ago at the direction of my neurologist to be treated by certain specified doctors, all chiefs of medicice, including the head of the neurology dep't. The more convenient hospital isn't that much more convenient, almost killed me a couple of times, and is generally complete shit. It ain't me vs. the "Establishment" so much as it is me vs. people who don't know what they're doing.

Attention atreides infidel: The symptomology and test results were all at odds with each other. They ruled out myasthenia back in July -- including this form -- and kept searching for ever-weirder shit. And to rule this form out they had checked for MuSK antibodies, done a thoracic CT and a spinal tap as well. Nada. §§§

Attention muchagecko infidel: I am indeed too cantankerous to succumb, but I was starting to get a bit nervous when I was no longer able to cough but rather just wheeze a bit. I still can't cough properly but it's all slowly getting better.

Finally...
Thanks again for your comments and concern. But more than that, thanks for the support you fuckers gave my wife. She really went through a hell of a time here, worse than the pancreatitis because that time they not only knew what the problem was but progress was clear and quick. So thanks.

WE NOW RETURN YOU TO BD'S REGULARLY CUNTISH PERSONALITY, ALREADY IN PROGRESS.