You changed my life and I’ll always love you, Pat.
My friend, my sister, my hero…
pat
18 Wednesday Jul 2012
Posted in cancer, death & dying, friends, life stuff
Category Archives: cancer
happy mondays
16 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in cancer, death & dying, friends, life stuff, love
Awhile ago I created a #happymondays Twitter hashtag to greet people with on Monday mornings, since so many people seem to really hate Mondays. But not me. I always see Monday as a fresh start to a new week full of possibilities. I reckon it’s probably 50/50 the number of people I either annoy or cheer up with my whole Happy Monday thing, but what the heck, it’s fun.
Then this morning I woke up and, as usual, had a look through my emails on the iPhone while still in bed. And I got the news I’ve been dreading for some time now, though it still hit me like a ton of bricks, that my friend Pat is in hospital and “fading fast”, heavily sedated due to being in so much pain. In a flash I went from not wanting to lose her to wishing she would let go soon so that she wouldn’t be suffering anymore. And then I decided I would have a Happy Monday anyhow, or as much as I could manage through my tears, because I knew Pat would like that. Going out for a walk now…
How’s your Monday been so far?
lunch in sanlúcar de barrameda
30 Saturday Jun 2012
I’ve been wanting to go back to Sanlúcar de Barrameda since I last went with my Sister Sue back in December 2008. For some reason both Susan and I thought it would be a good idea to drive out to Sanlúcar for lunch just ten days after my third cancer op… and well, although it was MUCH better than sitting around the house – and we did have a fabulous lunch on the beach – it turned out that my massive incision and the surrounding innards were not at all happy about the extra moving and shaking. Memories of Susan trying in vain to avoid any sort of pothole or bump in the road (cos man it hurt!) and then me shuffling gingerly to the restaurant and back to the car without seeing much of the town at all. But in spite of all that, very fond memories. I mean, lunch on the beach in December… are you kidding???
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when my twitter friends and neighbours Anna & Jorge offered to take me out for a day trip to Sanlúcar to celebrate my 20th anniversary in Spain. Yes! Peter came too, and we headed out early on a Sunday morning. First stop was a walk along the beach and a tapita and beer starter at Casa Juan, the restaurant Susan and I had gone to 3 1/2 years earlier. Then we drove back into town to try the Very Best Tortillitas de Camarones In The World at Casa Balbino. After that a rather so-so tapa experience elsewhere, redeemed by a visit to the beautiful Hotel del Duques de Media Sedonia with an amazing view over the town, where we enjoyed a nice after-lunch drink in the shade of covered terrace. And then home again. More pics here…
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
port cleaning queue
05 Tuesday Jun 2012
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So most of you know by now that just over four years ago I was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer with metastasis to the liver, blah blah blah…
The second time I had to go on chemo (April 2009) I was saved from frying what was left of my hand veins by having a chemo port surgically installed. Actually in a bit of an awkward place, right between “the girls” (most diagrams I’ve seen of ports show them higher up and to one side).
Anyhow, as I am still considered high risk for recurrence the port will probably stay in place for about five years and it requires monthly maintenance – a flushing out and then an injection of an anti-coagulant so that the tube doesn’t get blocked up with gunk and end up killing me. And so yesterday I headed over to the hospital for the monthly port cleaning.
Sometime last year they moved port cleanings over to the blood lab building, which at first I though was a pain because I could only go between 12- 1pm. But after going a couple of times I realised that it was way better than going to the chemo room and waiting sometimes up to an hour and having to see all the others undergoing treatment while I had the port cleaning done. At the blood lab there is normally nobody there when I arrive and I am in and out in a flash, and am even on a first name basis with the nurses.
But today there was a queue. Not a huge one, just four other people ahead of me. So no problem. Except that all of them were obviously so much younger than me, perhaps in their early thirties. And that made me so sad…
take three cats…
21 Monday May 2012
Posted in animals & pets, cancer, cats, diet & nutrition, health & happiness, home
… and call me in the morning.
What a crazy 48 hours it’s been. On Saturday evening I was suddenly not feeling well so I decided to go to bed early. A couple of hours later I woke up feeling awful and spent the next eight hours with violent vomiting and diarrhea and worried that I was going to end up back at hospital having more Surprise Surgery. But as there wasn’t any serious pain involved I just rode it out. Felt somewhat better yesterday morning but obviously couldn’t go out for my Sunday afternoon tapas tour, so Peter took that one (and they wrote back later saying they’d had a great time!). I stayed in bed ALL DAY, which is something I don’t remember doing other than when I was on chemo. Although the vomiting, etc had stopped (guess it sort of had to eventually) I was feeling very weak, feverish and achy. Have to say that Azar has been totally loving all this Extra Bed Time with me. And I finally got to use the bedroom tv that I installed last November. I knew it would come in handy some day.
Today has been a bit better. I actually got up for a few hours, but don’t feel well enough to venture outside. Which is a shame because it’s a gorgeous day out there. But I should be back to normal(ish) by tomorrow and am thinking that this might be a good time to start a diet…
How are you guys doing?
casa azahar 