Category Archives: friends

potassium

09 Friday Jul 2010

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

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It seems that I have an unusually high level of potassium in my system. That was the weird thing the emergency doctor noticed on Monday, and the reason he ordered a second blood test. Which (I found out today) came back the same. Because it’s an isolated thing Ricardo says it’s hard to determine the cause; it’s not part of a pattern of symptoms or test results. He said it was also possible that the next blood test will come back normal, but he suggested that when I see Dr Ana on the 17th that I mention this and have her set up an appointment with a cardiologist. Because too much potassium can cause a heart attack! Sheesh. It’s always something…

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tapeo extremo…

08 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by in food & drink, friends, sevilla, tapas

≈ 5 Comments

Soooooo busy!

This is a quick glimpse of round two from this afternoon’s Tapeo Extremo, with round three coming up this evening. It’s been quite a day, especially after round one last night ending so late, but have just had a refreshing shower and a change of clothes and I’m ready to go again. Will be meeting @AnnieBennet in about half an hour. Gotta run!

Update: Full report up on the Sevilla Blog

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paying it forward…

04 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by in cancer, friends, hope, hospitals

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Most of you know how rich I have been in gifts these past couple of years since I got sick. Gifts of all sorts – friendship, money, presents, visits, and especially patience & understanding – and of course a lot of this sort of generosity usually can’t be paid back in kind. But you can pay it forward.

I got a chance to do this the other day. After my wild night out on Thursday, Nog & I were coming home around 1.30 in the morning and I was surprised to see an old friend, Pepe, standing outside Bar Campanario. He used to own the place, but for years now it’s been run by my friend Maria Paz, with some help from her sister Elena. And suddenly there was everyone out in the street at this strange hour. I hadn’t seen Pepe in a couple of years and when I asked how he was doing it was a shock to hear that he’d just found out he has cancer…

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permission to be happy

01 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by in cancer, change, diet & nutrition, friends, health & happiness, home, hope

≈ 6 Comments

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Awhile ago on a particularly pleasant day I said to Nog, “I feel so happy that it scares me” … and we both laughed. Since then, and especially since my good news on Monday, I just can’t shake this happy feeling. I think it started when I found out I had to wait another two weeks until the PET scan and I decided to just enjoy the hell out of those two weeks and treat them as a “holiday from cancer”. In other words, I gave myself permission to be happy. And well, okay, I got pretty nervous the weekend before the scan, but now that I know I have at least six months before I have to face that particular dragon again, I am going ahead with extending this cancer holiday season until then. And damn it feels good. No, not suddenly like everything is all sunshine and butterflies, but a huge weight has been lifted and I feel like I can really breathe again. Like I can finally be myself.

Turns out I’m actually quite nice once you get to know me.  🙂

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I love it when a plan comes together…

21 Monday Jun 2010

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, geekiness, health & happiness, hope, internet, juggling, life stuff, photos, sevilla, work

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… or in my case, several plans.

I didn’t realise what a turning point the trip to Málaga would turn out to be. So again, thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to go without racking up more credit card debt. In the end I only spent money on train fare and two lunches out, so it was a fairly cheap trip, but very rich in experiences. I think it also helped to have a couple of days on my own – and being by the sea certainly helped!

Anyhow, these are the various projects I’ve been working on since I got off chemo last summer: tapas tours, Seville website & blog (with forum), social media management, the Sevilla Store, and English classes (specifically for restaurants). So far the only ones bringing in a bit of income are the tapas tours and social media stuff – my private English classes, such as they were, finished last week for the summer. But it does look as though things are coming together…

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