Category Archives: health & happiness

breathe!

07 Tuesday Jul 2009

Posted by in cancer, fitness, health & happiness, life stuff, philosophy, yoga

≈ 5 Comments

yoga_stretch
It’s a conspiracy I tell ya.

Ever since I made the decision to take time out to heal so many positive things have happened to me that I feel sure that I made the right decision. And the main recurrent theme has been remembering to breathe. First “Bob” sent me some good advice about yoga breathing and described a good one for me to practice that would help me focus on the present.  And of course we do various breathing exercises in yoga class. Then the other day I read this lovely quote…

Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh

I’ve been doing that one a lot since then and it really feels good. And then today someone on Twitter linked to a blog called Zen Habits and this wonderful post called (you guessed it) Breathe. It’s as though all of a sudden the universe is intent on getting me to breathe properly. And also to work on personal growth stuff. I had a quick look at the archives on Zen Habits and think I will do quite a bit more reading there. I really like the simplicity of the posts.

food porn

06 Monday Jul 2009

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, health & happiness, photos, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 15 Comments

romero prawn nests

I don’t know how many calories these babies have and I don’t care.

After doing some Saturday morning errands and a bit of grocery shopping the other day, Nog & I stopped in for a tapa at one of our favourite bars, Bodeguita Romero. Everyone there knows about the cancer so, as I hadn’t been there in a few months, a full health update was required by the bar staff and Pedro Romero, the owner. After that was taken care of we tried something new on the menu – these really fabulous prawns wrapped in crispy fried potato threads. Then Pedro gave us a free sample of another new tapa they are trying out (see below). Little brie-filled pastries, kind of like spring rolls. The one on the left has spinach and the other one leeks. Also very nice.

All of this reminded me that I have been neglecting my Sevilla Tapas site, which still needs a lot of work done on it. So that is going to be one of my projects this week. In between yoga and breathing and walking and healing…

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ad for anorexia

05 Sunday Jul 2009

Posted by in food & drink, health & happiness, rants, video, wtf?

≈ 27 Comments

This ad has been showing on Spanish television for awhile now and, everytime I see it, I get really annoyed. The girls are saying “I’m smarter than hunger” (hunger = hambre) and with close up shots of their eensy-weensy bums they encourage hungry women to eat “30 delicious calories” of puffed corn crap with virtually no nutritional value (1 cake; Calories: 30, Total Fat: 0.2g, Carbs: 6g, Protein:0.7g). I doubt most women would fall for this bullshit, but what about impressionable teenage girls? Which I am sure is Bicentury’s intended target market.

I admit that I tend to find most advertising geared towards women offensive, but this one takes things too far by appearing to promote anorexia. There’s no mention that this product is an occasional snack option if one is on a weight loss programme. The ad just blatantly flaunts stick-thin models boasting about how they beat hunger. Sick.

In reality, a nice crisp apple would make one feel less hungry than two air-puffed corn cakes.  Same calories, but with way more natural goodness.  Here is the nutritional content of an apple…

apple

I rest my case.

summer holidays

01 Wednesday Jul 2009

Posted by in cancer, change, chemo, fitness, friends, health & happiness, holidays, home, hope, life stuff, naps, tapas, yoga

≈ 18 Comments

SummerSun

I proclaim today as the beginning of my summer holidays!

Back when I mentioned my need to take some Time Out there were still several matters to attend to and get organised before I felt I could really relax and focus on taking some quality healing time. So most of June was spent “taking care of business” and getting through some pretty rough chemo. To wit, I have also decided that I’m done with the infusions and won’t be taking the sixth one. If they let me I’ll still do the sixth round of chemo mid-July, but only taking the dreaded Xeloda, which has a slightly less toxic effect on me. After the last infusion I got a very clear message from my body that it was DONE with that shit and really couldn’t take any more. And since my last PET scan was clear, I think I can take my body’s advice on that.

So for the next two months it’s going to be all about healing, yoga, long walks, healthy diet, cats, friends and – most importantly – taking time to breathe. I also have a few projects to work on, but just poco á poco when I feel up to it. And Nog & I want to get casa az de-cluttered and set up so we can both work here in comfort come September.

What will you be doing this summer?

for now…

24 Wednesday Jun 2009

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

≈ 26 Comments

time

… I seem to be on the mend.

After I got my pre-chemo bloodwork done yesterday morning I stopped by to see Ricardo (of The Team, and head of nuclear medicine). He told me that my latest PET scan had come back normal, that there was no sign of the two tumours they had seen in March. I’ll find out today when I talk to Dr Ana what they have in mind for further treatment, but it will probably mean completing the last two rounds of chemo, and after that …

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