Category Archives: health & happiness

no tiene nada!

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, health & happiness

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Those magic words that I always like to hear after a PET scan… just as important after a test for your pet. Luna’s test results for feline leukemia came back clearly negative this time, no smudgy doubts, and so she has been given the all-clear. What a relief!

Yolanda couldn’t believe how much Luna has grown, and she was as good as gold during the blood extraction and getting her vaccination jab. Also – unlike two other cats I know! – she didn’t make a peep there and back again. She just curled up at the back of the cat carrier and, well, looked kinda terrified. But what a difference it made not having to listen to all that heart-wrenching howling.

I have to take Luna back in a month for her follow-up vaccination, and was told that Loki is over-due for a booster shot, so I might try taking them both together in the big carrier to save on stress and taxi fare. By bizarre coincidence we got the same taxi driver both times today – what are the odds?

And so it’s a happy day over here at casa az. Luna has a clean bill of health, Azar is responding well to his meds, and Loki is just, well, huge and healthy. It has occurred to me that anyone just coming across my blog recently (since Luna’s arrival) would assume that this is primary a “cat blog”. I remember the same thing happening when Loki came to live here. Kitteh pics galore. Well, it’s not my fault they’re so cute! Perhaps regular programming will resume soon, if I can remember what that is.

biopsy results negative!

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, hospitals

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It was four weeks ago today that I had the emergency op – the one  that turned out to be an abscess on one of my ovaries and not anything related to my colon as the head surgeon had previously thought. I was told at the time that they didn’t think there was any cancer, but as a precaution they’d taken biopsy samples and said the results would be ready in two weeks. So two weeks ago I sent a text message to Isabel and Ricardo (of my nuclear medicine Team) to ask if they could check the results and when I didn’t hear back I reckoned that no news was good news.

But in fact good news is good news.

This evening I was over at Agustín’s getting him to witness my passport application and a message came through from Isabel that simply said “no describe nada de tumor” … my biopsy results in a nutshell! Right after that I had to go and take photos for my friend/client Maria at her shop and I forgot to call Isabel back, so she called me about an hour later and went over the results in a bit more detail. But the bottom line is that I’m okay! And although I was pretty sure someone would have called me before now if they’d found cancer, it was still a huge relief to see those words and talk to Isabel.

So I called Nog on my way home and he met me for a Cold Beer and some toasted almonds to celebrate.  A good day. 🙂

5 kilos

09 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by in diet & nutrition, health & happiness

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This is a 5 kilo bag of potatoes. As of today I am no longer carrying this around with me everywhere I go.

Most of you will be aware of my struggle with losing weight over the years, especially after the cancer surgeries and chemo which really screwed up my metabolism. But after my recent bout of gastroenteritis followed by the emergency op I have dropped five kilos “without even trying”.

Yes, that last bit is meant to be facetious. And of course it’s just the tip of the iceberg because I still need to lose about four more bags of potatoes, but at least I seem to be heading in the right direction after years of being stuck at the same unhealthy weight.

This has actually inspired me to get super serious about getting fit as soon as I am recovered enough to go back to the gym. But the fact that I’ve lost these five kilos while basically sitting around on my butt since mid-August is also inspiring because it has made me realise how just a few small changes in my diet can make a huge difference. And these are changes that I know I can live with. Go me!

diagnosis & treatment

06 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in animals & pets, cats, health & happiness

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When I got home from the hospital on Friday I received a call from Yolanda the vet telling me about Azar’s blood test results. The good news is that so far there isn’t any serious renal dysfunction happening, but the bad news is that it’s now clearly just going to be a matter of time. Well, Sunny lived a good couple of years after he was first diagnosed with kidney problems, so let’s hope Azar has at least that much time left.

The treatment is also the same as it was for Sunny, which is basically a change of diet to a special type of cat food, as well as a daily supplement. With Sunny this supplement was no problem as I just crushed the pill into a bit of wet food and he gobbled it down with relish every morning. With Azar it will have to be, ahem, inserted into his mouth. Fun, fun, fun. Also, Azar will need a daily dose of the liquid laxative to help keep him regular. And, of course, he is given drinks several times a day from his own special glass so that he stays hydrated.

I don’t know if I was in denial about Sunny or if I was just so overwhelmed with being on, and getting over, the chemo, but I didn’t realise how seriously his health had declined until it was too late. And while I know there is no cure for kidney dysfunction in cats, I still think I could have – and should have! – made Sunny’s last few months more comfortable. With Azar no detail is going unnoticed (am even logging stuff in a journal) and he is getting constant attention and being properly spoiled. The good thing is that he is still playful and happy and shiny. And I will do my best to keep him that way for as long as possible.

the best bed…

02 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by in cats, health & happiness, home, hope, hospitals

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THIS is all I could think about while I was at the hospital. Being home again in my bed with my boys. So you can imagine my joy when I found out this morning that I could go home.

I was sure in an out in record time – from operating table to home again in less than three days! I think in part because there was a serious bed shortage and also because my doctor knows that I’m a veteran, this being my fourth major abdominal surgery there. So he could rest assured that I knew what to do and how to take care of myself. But I was also surprised at how quickly I bounced back, being up and about in less than a day after the operation. So perhaps I’ll be able to do that Gourmet Tapas Tour on September 10th after all!

But don’t worry. I plan on taking it very easy. When I got home this afternoon the first thing I did (after snibbling the cats) was take a long hot shower and wash the hospital off me. Then I had a bit of lunch and then I had a lovely three-hour siesta with the boys. This is a photo of my rather rumpled bed after getting up. And oh man! I just felt like the luckiest person in the world to be back here. Sure I’ve still got a lot of pain and it’ll be awhile before I’m back to normal, but I’m still determined – perhaps more than ever – to stick to all the changes I’d been deciding on just before this happened.

Well, time for a light snack and a DVD before hitting the hay again. And thanks again for being with me through all this – it really meant the world to me.