Category Archives: cancer

après oncology

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in cancer, friends, gastronomy, hospitals, sevilla, tapas bars

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I mean, what the heck, right? Have to say that I always look forward to après oncology when I have a midday appointment. And of course it’s always extra nice to have a friend come with me to see the oncologist, especially a bilingual friend who can help me out with any language “issues” (like totally forgetting how to speak or understand Spanish…). This is the second time Claudia has come with me and I appreciate it so much. She and Paul also accompanied me for the endoscopy and Claudia will come with me for next week’s colonoscopy. I’m usually fine going for tests on my own, but the ones where they drug you up require that I have someone with me. Anyhoo… this time we stopped over at the fabulous Yebra for post-hospital tapitas and had a great time.

The upshot of this oncology visit, after reviewing the results of the barium enema from a couple weeks ago, was that… they still don’t know if I have a fistula (leakage from my intestine into my abdoman) or not. So I am now going to have more tests, this time a barium x-ray taken of my upper gastro area (so will have to drink it this time – ick), another colonoscopy, and yet another CT scan, plus more blood work. They don’t think anything cancerous is going on, but so far they still haven’t been able to prove there isn’t. At this point I reckon I’m going to die of radiation poisoning before anything else gets me. Wish me luck!

fed up

10 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, hospitals, sevilla

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Let’s recap here, shall we? About a year ago my new oncologist told me I was cancer free and no longer required further tests. She said to me – and I quote – “If that pain comes back then go to emergency”. But I was no longer on the watch list for possible cancer recurrence. WTF? As most people know, by the time you are in any kind of serious pain because of cancer, you are pretty much already dead.

Meanwhile, to this date nobody can explain why I’m even fucking alive, and apparently my case flummoxed pretty much everyone who was involved with it. This is why I had regular PET scans, twice a year for five years after my last chemo in 2009, then once a year for the following five. And then in January 2018 suddenly there was some issue about an inflammatory area that had increased from one PET to the next, and suddenly I was seeing a new onc who gave me a whack of other tests: CTs, colonoscopy, endoscopy… and then pronounced me cancer-free. As in, you can go away now.
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my second endoscopy

19 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in cancer, hospitals, sevilla

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My first endoscopy was in March 2018 and this past Monday my oncologist decided to do another one to compare with the results from almost two years ago. I was shocked when I got a call yesterday saying that my endoscopy would be today! Was it so fast because someone had cancelled or because my situation was deemed so serious that a test was required ASAP? Anyhow, they’ve also taken samples for a biopsy, so now it’s wait and see again.

The last one seemed to go more smoothly than today’s. For some reason I was really gaggy and it was very unpleasant – I don’t remember this happening last time. The nurse said that next time I should ask for a stronger anaesthetic.

My friends Claudia and Paul met me at the hospital because it was recommended that I have someone with me in case I was groggy after the procedure. Mostly I was thirsty because I wasn’t allowed to have even a drop of water for six hours before the procedure. I also hadn’t eaten since about 8 pm yesterday, so after finishing up at the hospital at 5.00 pm, we ended up finding a tapas bar with an open-all-day kitchen. And now I am home again, planning on an early night.

Apparently nothing now will happen until mid-to-late January, which is when they expect the biopsy results back. So as long as nothing was perforated and I don’t die of sepsis in my sleep things should be fine… for now.

anatomy lesson

16 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by in cancer, hospitals, sevilla

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So there I was, at the hospital, armed with a copy of my CT scan report (in both English and Spanish) and my list of questions, which mostly pertained to everything mentioned in the “conclusions” part of the report. I felt nervous but prepared. Unfortunately, none of my (3) bilingual friends were able to come with me, so I was there on my own (not the best situation for me), nonetheless I was determined not to lose focus and forget to ask my questions.

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