Category Archives: health & happiness

well boo hoo and fuck you

27 Tuesday Jul 2021

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, friends, health & happiness, musings

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virus 3d illustration

Who me angry?? Whatever gave you that idea?  🙂

I had something happen today that puts my mind somewhat at rest. For now. It doesn’t actually keep reality at bay, but it’s a much needed stopgap. Some breathing space. And it might be my last chance so I hope I don’t fuck it up.

Meanwhile I had to cancel a work trip to Valencia this week. I’d been commissioned by Decanter to do another of my travel articles for them, but with Covid cases spiking like crazy the past couple of weeks, including lots of breakthrough cases, I decided to stay put. Sure, things probably aren’t much worse in Valencia than in Sevilla, but at least here I am mostly in my own home. Five days away would mean being out and about all day long, meeting with lots of different people, eating out for every meal, staying at hotels, not to mention five hours each way on a train. And well, just… no.

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dodgy bits

07 Wednesday Jul 2021

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

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online appt

I got my CT scan results yesterday (for scan done June 21st) and it’s not a bad report. There are still some unexplained dodgy bits, but nothing has changed much since the last scan in September. At least there are no obvious signs of cancer, so that’s good. The areas of inflammation, and the spot where I was “leaking” before (ewww)  are still cause for concern but short of opening me up again and taking a proper look the best they can do is keep monitoring me with scans and x-rays.

This morning the hospital called and I have an appointment with the oncologist on Friday… on the phone! I’ve never done that before. But what the heck. It saves me a trip out there in 40º weather and perhaps it will actually be better as I won’t feel self-conscious about having my notes out in front of me. We shall see.

broken hearted

18 Friday Jun 2021

Posted by in health & happiness, hospitals

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broken hearted

I almost hesitate to write this as I know it’s really going to rile up Kate (aka Sledpress) but since my Medical Check List post I thought things were going rather well. Until this morning. After the blood test and ECG results came in my GP requested appointments for me to see a cardiologist and a dermatologist (for my going bald issue) and meanwhile oncology finally got in touch and I have another CT scan on Monday. Today I had the cardiologist at 9 AM, so I was up and out and in a taxi (in the rain) hoping to find something out. Alas… nope. They gave me another ECG when I got to the hospital and then I waited to see the doctor, who ended up remembering me from an appointment several years ago (I didn’t remember her, maybe that was my first mistake).

Anyhoodle, she acted very wary… saying I shouldn’t sit too close to her desk, telling me to turn my head away from her when she listened on the stethoscope. I mean, I get it. She is surrounded by possible sick people all day long, but she truly had no “bedside manner”. And worst of all was that she simply didn’t listen to me.

My reasons for being there were the following: I am short of breath almost always these days, I get that “tight skin” feeling in my arms when I stand up too quickly  (and sometimes also feel a bit dizzy), I also sometimes have tightness in my chest (never actually got to tell her that bit) and, yes, the tachycardia keeps happening. ASSUMPTION was that I was there once again about the tachycardia, but I wasn’t. This is something I’ve had since I was 25 and NO DOCTOR has ever been able to find out why. So I was there because it’s increasingly harder for me to breathe and I get a “tight” pain in my arms and fingers, there’s also a tightness across my lower ribs. Did she listen to me? Did she fuck.
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just breathe, eh?

17 Thursday Jun 2021

Posted by in health & happiness

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4 7 8

I’ve always had this problem. I never breathe enough. Or deeply enough. In fact sometimes I catch myself barely breathing at all, just short shallow panting, and I only become aware of that when I start to feel weird, either physically or emotionally. Then I have to stop and take a few deep breaths.

I’m sure most of you have now heard of the 4-7-8 breathing technique, meant to relax, help you sleep, and even do nice things to your body’s wellbeing. I tried it awhile back and actually couldn’t do it (!). I kept panicking while exhaling for 8 seconds. Then I tried it again this morning and it was like… I’ve GOT this! So I am going to try doing it a couple of times a day, and especially when I wake up in the night.

If you don’t know how it works, here you go. Apparently your tongue should be resting against the roof of your mouth, on the ridge behind your front teeth.

  1. empty the lungs of air.
  2. breathe in quietly through the nose for 4 seconds.
  3. hold the breath for a count of 7 seconds.
  4. exhale forcefully through the mouth, pursing the lips and making a “whoosh” sound, for 8 seconds.
  5. repeat the cycle up to 4 times.

I don’t know why they say you shouldn’t do this more than four times in a row, but apparently you can work yourself up to eight times. Worth a shot. Anyone else doing this?

medical check list

28 Friday May 2021

Posted by in covid, health & happiness, hospitals

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medical check list

If you’re like a lot of people (and like me) you have probably put off getting a regular check up since the first Covid lockdown. Especially because health centres and hospitals were definitely NOT the healthiest places to be and were also overwhelmed by coping with Covid patients. I did manage to get a CT scan done last September, and a follow up blood test in October in preparation for my oncology revision. Which didn’t happen. Following the protocol, once the scan report is ready and blood test done, we are supposed to call oncology and leave a message asking for a revision appointment. Then I heard that the oncology department at my hospital was being used for Covid patients so I reckoned that I wouldn’t be getting an appointment any time soon. In any case, I’d already had a nuclear medicine doctor friend read the scan report and she told me everything was fine, so no rush. And then I forgot! Until maybe Jan-Feb, so I called to request my revision appointment and… nothing happened. Then a couple of weeks ago I decided to try again, even though we’re told not to leave multiple request messages. FINALLY got a call back this week and got a thorough telling off by the oncology receptionist for leaving it so long. Whatever. I am now awaiting an appointment form for another CT scan (“the last one is useless by now!”), which I’m told will come in the mail. Fine.

Meanwhile, I got to thinking I should probably get a more recent blood test done too and got in touch with my GP. Then I got to thinking about all the niggling health issues I usually only remember at 3 in the morning and decided to make a list. So today I went through the list with my GP and next week I’ll not only get the blood test but also an ECG. I got my blood pressure checked (a bit high), blood oxygen level tested (good) and then the doc had a good listen to my lungs (nothing). I asked him about me GOING BALD and he said after the blood test comes back he’ll have a better idea of what sort of treatment to recommend. I also asked him about my next vaccine jab as there is a huge kerfuffle now about people who had AstraZeneca first now opting for Pfizer second time round, with mixed and confusing messages from the EU and Spanish medical reports. He said just to stick with AZ since it’s all pretty much experimental at this point, and I agree. After that I was given my little urine cup and sent home, feeling like I’d actually GOT SOMETHING DONE. It was a really good idea to take a list with me since I always forget things, and Dr A was very patient with going through each point with me. Now fingers crossed I get a reasonably clean bill of health and proper treatment for anything dodgy they find. I want my hair back!