15 Tuesday Jan 2013
Posted in health & happiness, home
In bed with flu.
It’s been a long time since I was sick enough with anything that I had to take to my bed.
Hope I’ll be feeling better in the morning as I have a Market & Tapas tour planned. Also, I think it would do me good to walk around a bit. Staying in bed does my back in. And I’m no longer contageous at this point, right?
*achy achy achy*
11 Tuesday Dec 2012
Posted in christmas, friends, health & happiness
Such a lovely surprise to have this happy package of goodies delivered to my door this morning. I didn’t even know that roll-on BioFreeze existed (will be hard to go back). And speaking of backs, I’ve been using quite a lot of my remaining BioFreeze these past few days after I … wait for it … stood up from my chair (what was I thinking???) … and have been in agony ever since. I’ve discovered that sleeping with a warm kitten snuggled up against the small of my back is every bit as effective as BioFreeze, but is less reliable.
Thank you, Sledpress! Also for more monster vitamins (which I really need to be taking again) and for this intriguing prettily-wrapped gift which will remain a mystery until Christmas morning.
And Luna thanks you for the box. It’s a perfect fit. 🙂
05 Wednesday Dec 2012
Posted in health & happiness, hospitals
So remember my hernia? Well, I finally got to see the surgeon this morning and, after a bit of poking and prodding, I was told that after so many surgeries it wasn’t unusual for me to have a hernia and, all things considered, it wasn’t a very big one. As such, the doctor said he wouldn’t recommend that I have any more surgery at this point.
To alleviate the chronic discomfort I was told that I should “lose a little weight” and use a “faja” (girdle or corset). Meh.
I still have the faja I was given at the hospital after my last operation (and to be honest I didn’t wear it as much as I should have during recovery), which is basically a length of spongy stretchy material with a strip of velcro on one end to hold it closed after wrapping it tightly around my belly. But it’s very bulky and tends to ride up. When I mentioned this to the doctor he said it would be just as useful to go to a lingerie shop and find something there…
Well imagine my surprise when I popped into one on the way home and found all manner of elasticated shape-shifting undergarments on offer. Most seemed to be made for already thin women wanting to look thinner, promising that slipping into a lycra-laced item would help them look two sizes smaller! Others promised to lift and show off their butts. I was at a loss. So I finally asked a salesclerk for assistance, explaining that I had a hernia and had to wear something for support. She very helpfully showed me half a dozen options and sent me off to try them. Holy crap! I honestly thought I wouldn’t get any of them on, but after a major heave-ho managed to pull them up and… yes! There was definite support going on. I finally opted for this simple Playtex model – which was also the cheapest at 20€ (some of them went up to 85€!). I would have preferred it in black, but this awful liverish colour was all they had in stock. Well, who the hell is going to see it anyhow?
So I reckon I’ll wear the wrap-around hospital faja at home and try out this one for when I’m out and about. The doctor promised me I’d feel much more comfortable after doing this for a couple of weeks. I hope he’s right. I was all set to hear the worst – that I’d need yet another operation. But it turns out I’ll only have to girdle my loins… oh, and “lose a little weight”.
22 Thursday Nov 2012
Posted in health & happiness, home
This sounds like the title of one of alejna’s pants posts but it turns out I do have perilous pants. And a sprained foot. Of course if it hadn’t been raining and I hadn’t been seriously squiffy my pants might not have got the better of me…
Yesterday I went out at lunchtime to meet my friends Annie and Eduardo for the first installment of a Tapeo Extremo (a term coined by Annie on our first mega tapas crawl together just over two years ago) and I wore a new pair of linen trousers. One thing led to another and when I was finally walking home around 1 am I suddenly found myself flat on my back on the wet pavement. I thought I’d slipped on the slick surface until I got home and discovered that the one of the trouser hems had partially come down. So this has to be one of the stupidest accidents ever – tripping on my own pants!
What’s the stupidest accident you’ve ever had?
25 Thursday Oct 2012
Posted in cancer, health & happiness
Or the same one I had before? Or is it maybe a new one that’s popped up (and popped out) since my last emergency op just over a year ago? What I do know is that there’s a lot of discomfort – I wouldn’t exactly call it pain – in the area to the right of my belly button. I’m not sure if this is something that started a few months ago, or if it’s always been there. Well, “always” since the first ops. I think I’ve become so used to a certain level of pain or discomfort along the scar lines criss-crossing my abdomen that unless it becomes PAIN I don’t do anything about it. Except that yesterday I happened to glance in the mirror before getting into the shower (something I usually try to avoid) and saw that my belly button was doing a serious “outy”. I gingerly pressed on the bulge and it felt all squidgy, as if there was liquid inside, which immediately made me think of the liquid build-up around Azar’s tumour that eventually burst, so I was suddenly very nervous.
Luckily I had an English class with my student/friend/neighbour/GP Agustín last night. Our classes don’t usually start with me hiking up my shirt, but I have to admit it was a relief not to have to rush to the hospital. Agustín thinks it’s a hernia, and said the only real solution would be surgery. Last time (three years ago) they just sliced open the area and drained the surrounding liquid, which is why I’m wondering if this is the same hernia. In any case, Agustín is going to refer me to a surgeon to get an opinion on what I should do. Since this has been going on for ages, and the last PET scan was clear, this doesn’t seem to be cancer-related. But it would sure be a bugger to have to have yet another operation. Stay tuned…
casa azahar 