Category Archives: cancer

getting back on my feet

25 Wednesday Aug 2010

Posted by in cancer, change, friends, work

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I’d had such high hopes after last summer about returning to work and getting back on my feet. You may recall that thanks to Manolo and Agustín I was able to spend much of last August in Málaga and Zahara de los Atunes recuperating from the effects of four months on chemo, so by September-October I felt quite ready to get back to work. I thought I’d be able to line up enough English classes to live on while I worked on my other various projects – the big plan was to diversify so that if/when I got sick again there would be at least some work that I could do from home in my pyjamas. Plus I was ready for a change after teaching for almost 20 years, and it also seemed wise to not have all my money making eggs in one basket anymore … boy, was I ever right about that last one. Because it turned out that the teaching market had really bottomed out and I was unable to find enough to live on, especially as I was also helping Nog get teaching work too. And then this summer I lost the apartment next door and the small monthly income from that. So, it’s been a very long and difficult year, but it looks like things are finally coming together…

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brave new me

06 Friday Aug 2010

Posted by in cancer, change, chemo, friends, hospitals

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It started with solo trips to the hospital for my monthly chemo port cleaning – I realised that if I went in the evening it was less busy and I could be in & out in about ten minutes. The first time I taxied there and back and the whole thing took less than an hour, which I thought was pretty good. It also felt good not to have to ask someone to come with me – thought it best to save that favour for scarier appointments like seeing the oncologist and going for PET scans. And so I started planning the port cleaning trips for evenings that Nog had a class nearby – we’d meet up after we’d both finished, go for a tapa and then walk home together (same price as taxi fare, but much more pleasant!). From there I started getting braver and braver…
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there and back again…

22 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, hospitals

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Pilar & Isabel
2/3 of my fabulous nuclear medicine team

Made personal history yesterday by going to The Hospital for an oncology appointment … ALL BY MYSELF. I’d called all my usual hospital buddies and they were either away on holiday or, like Nog,  not able to get away from work because of the very inconvenient appointment time – 1.45. This also meant that I would be at the tail end of the typical morning’s backup and could expect an extra long wait. You can probably imagine how much I was dreading this. But in the end I decided to take the bull with the corns (a wonderful malapropism from an old student of mine) and do something about this instead of feeling scared and helpless. And so…

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summer jobs

15 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by in cancer, chemo, home, summer, work

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I have to say that this summer is going so much better than the last two. Not only for the obvious reason of this being the first summer in three years that I haven’t been on chemo, but also because of summer jobs and work projects. First off, Nog has got a gig this month teaching a couple of intensive English classes at the language school across the street which – fingers crossed! – might also mean work in August, and perhaps a steady part-time position afterwards. This takes a whole lot of stress off of me as it means Nog will be able to pay his share of the rent & bills, at least in July. Meanwhile, my long-time student, good friend and GP Agustín has continued with his once a week English classes this month. He has always taken a “time out” from July-September and so I reckon these are kind of sympathy classes, but what the heck – I’ll take em! And I am continuing with my social media part-time job, which I am LOVING. Which for me sums up all the paid work I am doing, however…

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