Category Archives: cancer

lunch and stuff

29 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, life stuff, photos, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 11 Comments

gorgonzola-walnut-salad

Good friends, good food, good wine …

Pipocas, Flor and I had an absolutely fabulous time at Tre Fratelli yesterday. In fact, it was a pretty fine day all round. Starting off with yoga class, then an hour or so later Flor came over for further computer instruction. Pip met us here and we walked over to the restaurant together.  And for the next three hours there wasn’t even the eensiest hint of dead air.

Today will be quite something else. I need to fast from about 10am and then start drinking that gawd awful strawberry-flavoured barfium snot around 4 o’clock. Then I’ll walk up to Pip’s office at 6 and we’ll head off to the hospital for my CT scan.

Ah well, at least I have some nice memories …

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multi-tasking az

28 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by in blogging, cancer, friends, gadgets, geekiness, hope, internet, life stuff, work

≈ 9 Comments

multitasker

I’m so busy these days it’s just crazy!

At last count I have four “jobs” … or at least four projects I’m working on that I hope will turn into money-making ventures.  The only one actually bringing in any cashola at the moment is teaching, though since I started back in mid-January I’ve only had three classes a week. I should double that amount next month, with Ricardo and Pilar (from The Team) and maybe Bosco coming back.  But even though this is not nearly enough to live on, Pip & I have already decided that the focus for me in February should be Health and New Projects.  To wit, I plan on expanding on my morning gym time next week to include working out on the machines a bit after yoga classes (M-W-F) and also starting back with Pilates classes (T-T). Monday to Thursday I’ll have English classes at home between 6-9 pm. And the rest of the time? It looks like I’m going to be crazy busy…

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baby steps

19 Monday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, clothing biz, computers, food & drink, friends, home, hope, life stuff, photos, sevilla, tapas, teaching, work

≈ 14 Comments

baby-stepsStarting off again one small step at a time …

My very dear friend Lizzie in Bristol – who has been running the very popular Folk House Café for many years and is now in the process of revamping family run Quartier Vert – recently sent me a list of ideas to research in order to turn a couple of my personal projects into money-making ventures. She thinks that both the Sevilla Tapas blog and azahar natural clothing have potential and so I now have a list of instructions to help me get started … except it turned out I have become so bad at thinking in even a remotely straight line that I also needed to enlist the help of another clear thinker and straight shooter, none other than my “hermana de alma” and international woman of mystery, Pipocas. We got together on Saturday afternoon for a lunch and brainstorming session here at casa az and here is how it went …

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friends

15 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, life stuff

≈ 11 Comments

hug.jpg

“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends”
(It’s A Wonderful Life)

They say that you can tell who your real friends are in times of crisis, and there is nothing quite as crisis-making as having a possibly terminal illness. I’ve heard stories from friends in similar situations who have been terribly hurt and let down by people who turned their backs in times of serious need. I was lucky that this only happened to me once [ * ] during this whole cancer ordeal, right at the beginning of it, and that since then I have felt nothing but love and support from the people I am fortunate to call my friends…

[ * ] well, my immediate family also dumped me (Joe & Olivia excepted) but as Nog says, that’s what families are for.  😉

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“cured!” (for now)

14 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, life stuff

≈ 32 Comments

no-cancer

Actually, the correct term to use is NED (No Evidence of Disease) – cancer survivors tend to steer away from that other C-word. But imagine my surprise, after spending almost two hours with Ricardo yesterday morning, with him very patiently explaining everything about my case, to find out that I’ve been NED since the biopsy reports came back last October, which was then reconfirmed by the third operation. This is the short version of el caso az …

  • primary stage IV colon tumour and surrounding lymph nodes removed
  • two secondary tumours found in liver
  • two months of chemo
  • liver resection aborted after discovery of peritoneal lesions
  • all biopsy results negative
  • PET scan shows liver metastasis eliminated after chemo
  • third operation to “clean up” liver and peritoneum
  • peritoneal lesions turn out to be benign scar tissue
  • all biopsy results negative
  • “wait & watch” – testing every 3 months
  • high probability of recurrence

It ain’t perfect, especially that last bit,
but at least for now I feel like I have my life back …

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