Category Archives: health & happiness

adiós coliflor!

01 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, health & happiness, hospitals

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coliflor

Unless it’s prepared like this. I feel a bit like Sherlock Holmes and also grateful for having most of my life (including meals) up somewhere on the ol’ internets, because I think I have solved a mystery that’s been plaguing me for at least five years and probably more. So okay, getting to the point (and be forewarned, this is probably going to be really boring so don’t feel obliged, but I want the info here for future reference)…

After that last emergency op in August 2011 things didn’t heal as well as after the previous three cancer ops, which I think was in part my fault. I was extra impatient about being in hospital AGAIN and I remember begging the surgeon to let me go home on the Friday (the op had been on Monday, and we’re talking major abdominal surgery). I just wanted to be back home with the cats and sleep in my own bed and couldn’t bear the thought of spending the whole weekend in hospital (they only discharge people on weekdays). Well, turns out I should have stayed in because after promising the doctor that I’d “be good”, I really wasn’t. I didn’t wear my “faja” all the time at home (it was August and too hot), and I was out and about more than I should have been. The result was that I ended up with an umbilical hernia as well as the usual post-op adhesions. What’s this got to do with cauliflower you ask?
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flu jab

05 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by in coronavirus, covid, health & happiness

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flu jab

It’s done! Got my flu jab because it seemed like the prudent thing to do. In fact, the regional government here is recommending that as many people as possible get this done to eliminate any confusion in case they get Covid. I have only had flu once in my life, when I was about 40, and I swear to god I thought I was dying. EVERYTHING hurt, I was nauseous, couldn’t think straight, had a fever… for the better part of a week all I could do was drag my sorry body (and duvet) from my bed to the sofa and back again all the while hoping I would just die already.

I vaguely remember having one flu jab after that. I mean, you’d think I’d have asked for them every year so as to avoid ever experiencing THAT again, but no, because duh. So when I showed up at my health centre the nurse looked at my history on the computer and said, “been awhile”. I said that maybe my last flu jab was maayybeeeee five years ago … and she said “you were 52!” So okay. I think from now on I will be doing this on a yearly basis. Also hope to be getting a Covid jab soon?

going bald!

28 Wednesday Oct 2020

Posted by in hair, health & happiness

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baldy

I’m going bald! It’s really quite upsetting because although my hair has always been thin, and has been getting thinner for a few years now, it’s become obviously much thinner – I’m talking actually see-through top and centre – over the past couple of months. At first I thought I was imagining it, or it was maybe stress-related and would grow back. Nuh-uh!

So… what can I do? I’ve been looking up treatments online, but there doesn’t seem to be much out there that isn’t just snake oil. Plus I don’t know the actual cause, other than age and probably menopause. But why the sudden massive hair loss recently? I suppose it could be a thyroid thing because I do have some issues there. But I mean, c’mon. I’m already having enough self-esteem issues from being FAT and OLD without adding BALD to the equation. Fucking 2020.

what’s your superpower?

16 Friday Oct 2020

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, hospitals

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superpowers

So I picked up my latest CT scan results yesterday and it was the clearest of “all clears” I’ve had in a few years. Not sure what this means yet as I still have to see the oncologist. But it looks like maybe I won’t need to be tested again for awhile. The scary fistula leaking gack into my abdomen seems to have healed on its own and there is no evidence of any metastasis in lungs or abdomen. Okay, my cholesterol is still higher than it should be and my liver is a bit fatty (like the rest of me) but these don’t seem to be immediately life-threatening. Unless I get Covid of course, then I’m a goner.

Meanwhile I can’t help but think that after more than 12 years of radioactive substances being either beamed or injected into my system on a regular basis I should at least get a superpower out of this.

If you could have a superpower what would it be?