Category Archives: cancer

holiday az

23 Sunday Aug 2009

Posted by in cancer, change, health & happiness, holidays, hope, travel, trips

≈ 13 Comments

holiday az

This is my last full day of my holidays and I realised I haven’t posted even one holiday photo of me (other than my feet). So this is one that Nog took yesterday evening as we were sitting on the rooftop bar having cocktails and waiting to watch the sunset.

Nog got here yesterday morning and is going back to Seville later on today, and Agustín will be coming to pick me up tomorrow afternoon to take me home. It’s sure been an interesting ten days and I’ve had a really nice break, but I am quite looking forward to snibbling my boys tomorrow and also getting into my new routine. After all this time being sick I feel I’m more than ready to take my life back from cancer and start working on all the projects that have been on hold for so long.

Sure did love my holidays though. It’s the best August I’ve ever had!

Thanks again to everyone who made this summer of healing possible.

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oh fer fuck’s sake…

12 Wednesday Aug 2009

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, rants, trips, yoga

≈ 16 Comments

cobra

Well, wouldn’t you know it. I get back from a lovely holiday quite chuffed that I had actually lost a bit of weight whilst stuffing myself full of gorgeous tapas every day. And then, as there are no yoga classes this month, I started up a new gym routine which included some yoga stretching, abs & arms, and then 40 minutes on The Bike. I was feeling really good about “taking my life back” after finishing chemo, and about getting healthy & fit again. Then I had to go to the hospital yesterday to get my port flushed out and while I was there everything went for a burton…

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antioxidant drinks

27 Monday Jul 2009

Posted by in cancer, change, food & drink, home, hope

≈ 10 Comments

my smoothie

Look what I found on Saturday!

I was actually looking for harissa paste in the gourmet shop at Corte Inglés (no luck) when I spotted these drinks in one of the coolers. One is mostly blueberry, the other acai berry. Have only tasted the former so far and it’s delicious. So I’m going to start alternating these with my blueberry & yoghurt smoothies in order to maintain a good daily level of antioxidants in my diet. Other diet changes will be coming in August, once I am done with the chemo. The drinks are kind of expensive, but so are fresh blueberries (cannot find frozen ones here at all).

blueberries

I reckon I’m worth it.  🙂

[photo updated to include pomegranate smoothie]

scarred for life

20 Monday Jul 2009

Posted by in cancer, change, health & happiness

≈ 19 Comments

my scars

Meant to post a follow up to the original scar post ages ago. I forgot to take a photo after the second op, so this one includes both second and third op scars, as well as the one for my port (the little one just there above my bra). Once again modesty prevents me from showing you the entire extent of the scars, but the vertical one goes right down to the pubes and the side one is a big J-shape that extends just past where the side seam on a shirt would be. The two horizontal scars are kind of on top of each other, but the second one also continues past the centre line for about three inches (bit hard to see in this pic).

The area where the horizontal and vertical scars meet is still causing me problems. Apparently I still have a lot of inflammation there, as well as where the original join was made in the colon after the emergency resection (first op). So there you have it. I’m not really bothered about having scars. I just hope I won’t need to get any more…

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do-it-yourself doctor

16 Thursday Jul 2009

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

≈ 10 Comments

diy doctor

Just call me Dr az.

I went to see the oncologist yesterday. Dr Ana is on holiday so I saw one of my original colon cancer oncs. As I mentioned in my summer holidays post, I’ve had very bad reactions to the last three infusions of Oxyplatin and so I decided that for the sixth and final round of chemo I’d just take the Xeloda chemo pills and forgo the infusion. When I told my friend/student/GP Agustín this the other day he went all doctory on me and said this wasn’t a decision I should make without the advice of my oncologist. So I gave that a shot and I’m not surprised at all how things went…

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