• about azahar (that’s me!)
  • my cancer story
  • azahar’s kitchen
  • azahar’s sevilla
  • sevilla tapas
  • personal trip planning

casa azahar

~ my life in sevilla

casa azahar

Category Archives: health & happiness

falling apart

10 Tuesday Nov 2009

Posted by azahar in cancer, chemo, diet & nutrition, health & happiness, hospitals, rants, wtf?

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

cancer, chemo, doctors, hospitals, rants

old car Been feeling like I should be put out to pasture…

Seriously, I feel like an old wreck whose parts aren’t working properly anymore and there aren’t any replacements. Every day it’s something else. Well okay, not every day, but it sometimes seems that way. I mean, after getting over the worst effects of the chemo I developed quite painful neuropathy in my feet (less so in my hands) that will only get worse as it gets colder out. And now my right foot has a new problem in the arch and it feels like I am walking on a golfball. Ouch. Oh, and then I found out I had a hernia – remember that? – which erupted a couple of weeks ago and has still not quite healed after being sliced open to drain. What else? Well, there are the regular bouts of tachycardia that nobody can explain, as well as still getting quite winded after even the slightest bit of physical exertion. And then my mammogram results were dodgy and they want me to have another one in six months. Then the other night I was watching TV and suddenly my vision went all distorted and it was like looking through a flashing prism, which scared the hell out of me but luckily only lasted about 15 minutes. And the latest thing was when I was eating a mushroom on Sunday evening and a huge chunk of my back tooth fell out. Just crumbled and fell out, like in one of those anxiety dreams, except I wasn’t dreaming. Upon further inspection I saw that both my upper back teeth are almost totally black. I mean, wtf?

All of which is compounded by averaging only about four hour’s sleep a night. I feel like I’m sleepwalking most of the time and always feel tired and achy inside. And I worry that maybe this means the cancer has come back.

So there. Rant over. It’s just that sometimes I wonder if I’m ever going to feel good again, you know? And at the same time I’m happy to feel even this good after the hell that was chemo. Pretty mixed up, eh?

And today I’m off for blood tests. Heigh ho…

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

 

spoonfed

09 Monday Nov 2009

Posted by azahar in animals & pets, health & happiness, home

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

cats, feline megacolon, vets

spoon

Update on Sunny.
I think I may have created a monster …

To recap. Sunny was diagnosed as having something called feline mega colon in September, and it’s been really hit & miss trying to find the right combination of treatment for him. He still sometimes goes for days without having a bowel movement, but just when I’m ready to go through more vet trauma and take him in, he manages to go, and then we go back to waiting and watching. I know he isn’t functioning as well as he might, but I am loathe to keep bringing him back to the vet’s. I mean, he’s 16 now and the vet said the next step would be to give him an ultrasound to see if there is some sort of obstruction. But it just seems like his digestion has become very sluggish rather than being totally blocked. Meanwhile, I really do think I have created a monster. A fussy and totally spoiled pointy-eared monster who now only wants to eat when I spoon feed him…

Continue reading →

good hair day

04 Wednesday Nov 2009

Posted by azahar in hair, health & happiness, rants

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

curly, hair, rants, straight

straightYour hair – crowning glory or worst nightmare?

Mine has always been the bane of my existence. What is known in Spain as “pelo frito”. Fine and frizzy with a mind of its own and the plaything of even the slightest touch of humidity. All my life I have dreamed of having straight hair and cannot even begin to count the hours spent – nay wasted – with gels & sprays, tape, giant rollers, blowers & straighteners, hairbands & hats. All for nothing. When I was about 12 my father finally gave in to my constant pleas and paid to have my hair professionally straightened at a salon. Within a week my hair was back to its usual disagreeable self.

I longed to be one of those happy souls who could just wash their hair and go outside without further ado, or who could get caught in the rain, secure in the knowledge that they wouldn’t end up looking like they had a demented poodle sitting on their heads. In the 80s I watched in horror as women who had been blessed with the hair of my dreams got hideous perms that made them look, well, like me. Around that time I tried letting my hair dry while gelled back in a ponytail, but after its release from captivity would immediately spring back to its despised life. So in the end I just kept it gelled back and have been mostly wearing it that way for the past 25 years, except on rare days with 0% humidity or those few blessed hours immediately after having my hair cut and blow-dried to smithereens.

Yesterday was such a day. And it was soooo lovely while it lasted, that all too brief and bittersweet glimpse of what might have been…

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

no excuse needed

02 Monday Nov 2009

Posted by azahar in change, dance, health & happiness, life stuff, love, music

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

calvin & hobbes, dance

calvin-and-hobbes-dancing

G’wan … you know you want to!

🙂

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine

hernia update

29 Thursday Oct 2009

Posted by azahar in cancer, diet & nutrition, fitness, food & drink, health & happiness, hospitals

≈ 13 Comments

scalpel

You may remember that I had to go to the hospital last week because the hernia I’d been told about after my last CT scan had become infected and was hurting A LOT. After a week of antibiotics and anti-inflammatories it felt better but actually looked worse. The part that had been red and sore looked like a water blister and so, rather than poke it with a pin myself (it was sooo tempting) I decided it would be best to head back to the hospital…
Continue reading →

← Older posts
Newer posts →

patreon (1)

OR

comments

Unknown's avatararacena getaway day… on reyes & javi
Unknown's avatararacena getaway day… on aracena getaway day 1
Unknown's avatarthe terminator tooth… on broken tooth sequel
Unknown's avatarthe terminator tooth… on eep! broken tooth!
Unknown's avatararacena getaway day… on postcard from aracena
Unknown's avatararacena getaway day… on birthday trip
Unknown's avatararacena getaway day… on finca buenvino
Unknown's avatarsunday song –… on aracena getaway!
Unknown's avatararacena getaway! | c… on birthday trip
Unknown's avatarcaturday april 11th… on morcilla is 13!

meta

  • Create account
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

visitations

  • 979,142 peeks

categories

archives

Enter your email address to subscribe to casa az and get email notices of new posts.

Join 2,279 other subscribers

azahar on Instagram

No Instagram images were found.

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • casa azahar
    • Join 2,012 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • casa azahar
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...