Category Archives: friends

feeling very spoiled!

14 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in cancer, chemo, friends, home, hope

≈ 12 Comments

spoiled

So I was just sitting here with Susan (Pip) having a nice lunch and talking over our future plans (and making lists!) when Nog came in with today’s post … and a wee package for me!  I read the adorable postcard first that said “Something to protect your little tootsies from the nasty cold floor” … and saw it was from Linda (aka Beatrice). Oh! And I said to Susan that I was sure I’d seen these little slipper sock thingys before and she said – “yep, at Marks & Spencer in Gibraltar”. Ha!

Almost made me cry. Just, you know, the thoughtfulness that someone remembered how the cold floors hurt my bare feet when I first came back from the chemo infusion, and then popped these  in the post for me. And they’ve also got the eensy rubber pads on the bottom so I won’t slip around. Well, be assured that I’ll be wearing them a week Thursday, Linda. And thank you so much!

ps. Just finishing the Heal Your Own Back book and will be starting on Stephen Fry tonight.

your post is awaiting moderation

14 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by in blogging, culture, friends, internet, media

≈ 14 Comments

waiting

A blog friend of mine recently had to switch to pre-mod on her blog because of an ugly smelly troll who started bothering her, and I quite understood the reasoning behind that. But I’ve come across several other people whose blogs have this set up and I’ve wondered if they’d had problems in the past or were just being extra careful or … ?

The only problem that I have with pre-mod is that you usually don’t get to see what other people have said before you (because their comments are also awaiting moderation) and for me this kind of takes something away from the whole blogging experience, interrupts the flow or something.  I often find the comments (and banter between commenters) just as entertaining as the post itself. Also, when you are “commenting blind” there is the risk of writing something that seriously jars with what others have been saying, or you can inadvertently put your foot in it, depending on what was said just before you.

So, two questions.

  1. If you moderate comments on your blog before publishing them … why have you chosen to do this?
  2. How do you feel about commenting on blogs that hold all comments for moderation?

~ image from 3gatti ~

just knew I was gonna love this place…

06 Monday Apr 2009

Posted by in cancer, chemo, food & drink, friends, neighbours, restaurants, sevilla, work

≈ 6 Comments

oca-spinach-pizza

When Susan took me out for lunch on Friday (the day after going back on chemo) we tried this recently opened pizzeria called L’Oca Giuliva, right across the street from my house. And I knew straight away that this was going to become the new takeaway pizza joint for casa az. Not that I actually order many takeaway pizzas – in fact, hardly any at all – but they are curiously very good “chemo comfort food”. Especially when, like yesterday evening, I’d just woken up from a four hour nap, was feeling peckish, but was still way too groggy to even make toast…

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don’t be sad because it’s over…

04 Saturday Apr 2009

Posted by in change, family, friends, health & happiness, home, hope, love

≈ 8 Comments

pip_kidlet

… be happy because it happened.

You may have noticed that my sister Susan (aka Pipocas, international woman of mystery and popcorn mule) hasn’t been around much the past 2-3 weeks. I’ve barely seen her myself and we’ve mostly kept in touch by emails and phone calls. First she had a friend from the States visiting for a week, then she had a bunch of legal and work stuff to take care of, and this past week her boss was in town to work out some solutions because … here comes the punch line… Pip will be moving back to the States this summer.
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no more chemo hand!

03 Friday Apr 2009

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

≈ 12 Comments

chemo-arm

… well, after today’s session.

And wow, as I sit here with my throbbingly painful “chemo arm” and weak & useless achy “chemo hand”, I am convinced that getting the port is the right way to go. It is seriously going take away one of the worst side effects I get from my present chemo regimen (Xelox/Oxiplatin infusion; Xeloda chemo pills). And so,  if the new whack of anti-nausea pills also work, then I’ll only – ha! – have to put up with the cold thang (not being able to touch, eat or drink anything cold), and feeling really really tired for about ten days out of the three-week cycle. “Razor throat” and “metal mouth” are also quite unpleasant, but they usually only last for 5 and 10 days respectively, and they don’t stop me from doing stuff (just from doing them pleasantly) …

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