Author Archives: azahar

I don’t care…

11 Monday Aug 2025

Posted by in casa azahar, home, sevilla, spain

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That’s what I’ve been saying all summer. As in… I don’t care what it costs, I’m not skimping on the AC. So I haven’t been. It goes on around 8am, then there’s a midday 2-3 hour break, either when I go out or if I’m cooking, when it gets shut down. And then back on again late afternoon until bedtime. I have it set at 24-25º but it never gets cooler than about 26.5º (single-pane windows, no insulation) but with the fans on it’s perfectly comfortable. And then just the fans overnight.

Used to be I wouldn’t dream of turning on the AC until after lunch but this year I realised several things. The heat waves started way earlier than usual (every year they start earlier), I can’t do my morning chair workouts when it’s 30º in the apartment, and I’m just too old (and cranky) to keep putting myself through this self-inflicted uncomfortable austerity thang… so fuck it.

Then today I received the electricity bill for July and 😱 😱 😱. Holy fuck, about 50% more than last year. This comes hot on the heels of splurging on a new mattress which I also couldn’t afford but I justified it because I wasn’t forced to move this summer so what I would have spent on movers (which I also couldn’t have afforded) I would spend on a mattress instead. Well it made sense to me!

And now I am justifying having my home at a comfortable temperature because, hey, I’m not going on holiday, not travelling, so all that money I never would have spent anyhow because there’s no fucking way I can afford to go on holiday, I am spending on air conditioning. Reader… I don’t have any extra money for any of this! I just have this imaginary money that I don’t spend that I move around here and there in my mind to justify not living like a fucking pauper. What can I say? It’s complicated. But so far it almost works. Sometimes.

three weeks later…

07 Thursday Aug 2025

Posted by in health, hospitals, sevilla

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It’s been three weeks since I had my bonus cardiology visit and the doctor agreed to cut Apocard (flecainide) from my prescriptions, even though she said she didn’t believe it was the cause of the symptoms I described to her (inside of head feeling bruised, pressure behind eyes, occasional dizziness and blurred vision). But hey, almost immediately those symptoms disappeared and I’ve only noticed one or two slight tachycardia episodes since then. My pulse has gone back up a bit but is still below 70 and BP is stable. I meant to ask if, without the flecainide, I should be taking a full beta-blocker pill instead of half (which original cardiologist switched it to when I started taking it with the flecainide) but I guess she would have noticed and said so. Maybe? 

Anyhow, feeling better about this. And not just because I’m actually feeling better. It’s easier now to take all three meds together in the morning and I don’t have that feeling of dread that accompanied taking the flecainide. Apparently it is a very widely used treatment for atrial fibrillation in Spain, but seems to be less popular elsewhere. And since here they still prescribe Nolotil (metamizol) with reckless abandon despite it being banned in more than 20 countries, well, I think I can be forgiven for not automatically thinking that Doctor Knows Best. 

Meanwhile, I already have my cardiology revision appointment set for next February (!). This doctor may have seemed a bit brusque but at least she also seems to get things done. So fingers crossed this latest drug cocktail (bp med, blood thinner, beta blocker) works and it’s all I need.