Category Archives: health & happiness

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?

in case of plague…

30 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by in health & happiness

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1-sinuses-001Had an appointment with the ear-nose-throat specialist this morning. It was mostly just the usual going over until the doc put a tube with a light on the end up my nose and shoved it around my various facial cavities. Not painful exactly but not particularly comfortable. And so I apparently have a very serious sinusitis that the last two courses of antibiotics did nothing to erradicate. Sounds like this new stuff I was given is a bit more potent…

  • Treats infections that are caused by certain kinds of bacteria. Also used to treat and prevent anthrax infection after exposure. Also used to treat and prevent plague.

Plague? Anthrax infection? Sheesh. I got a little freaked out about taking this as the doctor asked me more than once if I was allergic to this particular antibiotic to which my reply was – I don’t know! Then I read about all the possible side-effects – never a good thing to do. I was also given some steroid nose spray to use nightly FOR A MONTH. You should see the possible side-effects for that stuff. Not looking forward to this, but also can’t stand having blocked ears anymore. Sure hope this works.

And how are you guys doing?