Category Archives: health & happiness

post-op morcilla

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in cats, health & happiness, home

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morcilla post op
This was my darling girl last night, a couple of hours after getting home from the vet’s. She was quite perky when I went to pick her up and seemed very keen to get home again. But once we got here Luna went all weird after crawling into the carrier for a look (and sniff) around. Then she sniffed at Morcilla and commenced hissing and spitting and growling… like, WTF? So after getting Morcilla settled – was very pleased she wanted something to eat right away! – I also settled back to work. And suddenly there was Morcilla on my desk. Well, all I can say is that a few hours after my hysterectomy I sure wasn’t able to leap up onto a 12-foot ledge! Cats are amazing. I went and got a little towel so she’d have something soft to lie on, and she curled up and stayed there for the rest of the evening, next to me.

Today I had to start with the antibiotics. I’d totally forgotten that she would need to take these for 8 days, so there go my plans for a weekend away with friends. But I can’t rely on Peter being able to do this and I won’t risk the chance of a post-op infection. Also dealing with stuff like seeing a bit of blood in her stool this morning, and vomiting a couple hours after breakfast (and meds). So I am keeping a close watch on her.

Woke up with a start around 3 am because she wasn’t in my bed, as she had been when I’d gone to sleep. A quick look around found her all cosy on the little towel behind the laptop, bless her. And she’s there now, my little sausage. Stay tuned for updates…

pilar y pilar

28 Saturday Sep 2013

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

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pilarsHere are Pilar and Pilar, mother (75) and daughter (46)…

Some of you may remember Pilar (daughter) as one-third of my amazing Nuclear Medicine team and the friend who once very generously gave me a month while I was recovering from chemo. These days Pilar isn’t doing so well as her lupus has returned big time and she has had to take another leave from work, but she was finally feeling well enough to meet for lunch today. And mama Pilar is presently enjoying being in remission after cancer treatment this past year. So when we raised our glasses and said “salud” it suddenly struck us all that this had extra meaning for us and gave the day an extra special feeling.

PET scan check-list

25 Wednesday Sep 2013

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

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PET-CTOn Tuesday I started wondering why I hadn’t heard back about my next PET-CT scan so I sent a text to Isabel and that very afternoon I got a call telling me that I was scheduled for the scan on Thursday at 8 am. Which is TOMORROW. So well, fuck.

I was mostly okay about this yesterday but today I’ve kind of lost it. I checked again online to see what the proper PET scan prep is and have been sticking to it, even rescheduling tonight’s tapas tour for tomorrow so I could stay in and get an early night. But I’m such a nervous wreck.

I keep thinking about Pat and how, after four years of being cancer-free, she had a recurrence and not long after that she died. Just to say that I can never take it for granted that I’m going to be okay. And so I am, as always, hoping like mad that I will once again beat the odds tomorrow and be given another six months.

Had lunch with my friend Juan yesterday and told him how it would feel really extra cruel to get sick again after my life finally feels like it’s the one I’ve always dreamt of. I’m doing work I love, in the place that feels like my real home in the world, my social life is also fulfulling and I’m even starting to not be so hard on myself all the time. Also I have three young cats that I want to watch grow up. So please please please let me be okay tomorrow. Fingers crossed! xx

[UPDATE: ALL CLEAR! Another six months for me! 🙂 ]

getting my head examined

09 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in health & happiness, hospitals

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head examinedAbout three months ago I got a wicked sinus/ear infection that just wouldn’t go away. In fact, over a month after it originally hit me I ended up taking some crazy scary anti-biotics to try and get rid of it, which didn’t work and left me with a sun-sensitive rash all over my arms.

Finally it was decided that I should get my head examined! Well, that I should have an xray done to determine if the eardrums were being blocked from the other side, in which case I would need to have some sort of operation. Great. So this morning I went back to the health centre for both a head xray and a hearing test. I’m happy to report that the xray showed that my passages weren’t blocked anywhere anymore, and the test results were better than expected – it turns that my hearing is well above average.

So then why are my eardrums still crackling and why do they still hurt?

Nobody seems to know. Though the doctor today said that my sinuses were much clearer than last time so maybe it was just a question of time and he said that I should keep using the steroid spray he’d prescribed earlier (that I keep forgetting to use).

I mean, I’m thrilled that they didn’t find something scary in my head – as usual I was worried it might be cancer-related – but it’s actually not very comforting that nobody seems to know what’s wrong. Well, perhaps the sea air will help?