Category Archives: health & happiness

tied up in knots

26 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in health & happiness, home

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It was a normal day. I was working on this and that, spent most of the day at home thinking I would go out in the evening for a walk. Made a healthy “fridge forage” lunch that had plenty of fresh veg, some chicken and noodles. Then I relaxed a bit late afternoon, and then… OMG.

Suddenly I was hit by serious sharp abdominal pain, though not the same as what I experienced last week. This was way more intense. Thinking I could maybe “walk it off” I headed out to buy some ink for my printer, at the new shopping mall over the river. Halfway across the bridge I thought – uh oh, this isn’t normal – but then the violent cramps subsided and so I kept on. Bought my stuff, headed home, almost vomited in a public bin on the side of the street, but somehow made it back. And then it got much worse.

I crawled into bed, scared and in PAIN… it was so bad that I was actually crying out. Like all my insides were tied up in knots, like I was being turned inside out. I was so afraid I would end up back in emergency. Finally I fell asleep and when I woke up again in the middle of the night I drank some water (kept it down) and things seemed okay from then on in. But you know… WTF?

on travelling (and living) with anxiety

23 Thursday May 2019

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

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crossing bridges…

As I put together the posts for last week’s London Getaway (done after I got home) I realised I was almost enjoying the visit more in retrospect than when I was actually there. Don’t get me wrong – it was wonderful meeting up with my friends, and going to the Spanish Embassy party was an amazing experience. And Nicola’s apartment was lovely. But when I wasn’t with friends or otherwise occupied I felt quite stressed and anxious most of the time. In fact, this anxiety started about a week before I left, since I am actually terrified of flying. I was lucky that Peter agreed to stay over while I was gone to take care of the cats, as that was one less thing to worry about. But still, I was very nervous about my trip to London, even before I got there.

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sick day

13 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in health & happiness, home

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So there I was, about 2/3 through a tapas tour, when I started to feel a bit woozy. Then when we got to our final bar my stomach started cramping and I was decidedly not okay. But I soldiered on and, luckily, my group had been up since 3am to catch their flight to Sevilla, so they didn’t linger after finishing their desserts. I walked them most of the way back to their hotel as it was on my way home, feeling worse and worse with each step, but still managing to be chatty. But as soon as I got home… WHAM.

Thus started a long night of violent vomiting, diarhhea, fever, sweating and shivering. This morning I felt totally wrung out and only managed to sit up for a couple of hours before heading back to bed. Finally woke up again around 5.00 thinking I needed to eat something, and for some reason that something had to be boiled potatoes. But even that simple meal rushed right through me and now I need to lie down again. Everything is aching… my eyes, my fingers.

Sad to have missed a lovely day planned with Kalé and her mother, who just got into town, which was going to include a horse carriage ride and lunch. But somehow I don’t think I’ll be eating out again for awhile.

floaters and flashes

19 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by in health & happiness, hospitals, sevilla

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About a month or so ago I went to see my GP Agustín because I had suddenly developed floaters in my right eye, accompanied by flashing lights in the right hand corner (only noticable when it was dark). So he put in a request for an appointment with the ophthamologist and said they would get in touch. Then I started getting those flashing zig-zaggy prisms right across my eye, though they didn’t last long. But the point was that things weren’t getting any better and I still hadn’t heard from the specialist about my appointment.

The reason I wasn’t super worried about it was because this very same thing happened to me almost exactly 9 years ago. And I got it checked out and it was nothing, and eventually went away. But after having mentioned this here, and also to a couple other friends via email/whatsapp I was suddenly being pressured (in the kindest way possible) to GET IT CHECKED OUT. Because the threat of retina damage and vision loss is actually quite a real one. So I checked again with my GP this morning, and he agreed I should go to Emergency, so I hopped into a taxi and found myself once again at my least favourite place in Sevilla.

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