24 Tuesday Mar 2009
Have decided to get creative about this …
Had the latest PET scan last Thursday, after having been “rescued” by my new oncologist a few days earlier. She was the first person since all this started last May to point out that CEA marker tests were totally useless in my case (they always ended up “normal” even when I actually had tumours) and also suggested that CT scans were probably not going to be that helpful either. Hence the latest PET scan. And well, it wasn’t very good news …
22 Sunday Mar 2009
Posted in fitness, health & happiness, rants
Oh my fuck but it hurts!!!
I had spent yesterday morning lazily hanging out and then around noon decided to shower and get dressed to go out, as it was such a beautiful looking day out there. So I got into the shower and somewhere between then and drying myself my lower back went aaacck! Note that it wasn’t any specific movement – or even a specific moment – but over the next few minutes I went from having a painful twinge in my back to almost screaming in agony and not being able to walk or even stand up straight. And that’s pretty much how it was for the rest of the day. . .
19 Thursday Mar 2009
Posted in cancer, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, photos, sevilla
That’s Pilar, aka “mi Pili”, and one third of The Team.
Yesterday I had my third PET scan, which had been recommended by my new oncologist last Friday. Susan (Pip) couldn’t come with me for this one as she has a friend from the US visiting, and so I was very lucky that my friend Carmen was available. Based on the last two PETs, I told her we would probably be out of there in about three hours. Wrong! We ended up there for six hours, so I definitely owe her one. Though she said she didn’t mind at all as she had nothing planned that afternoon and had brought books and some stuff from work, plus when we were both waiting together we talked, played Hangman on my iPhone, went for a snack, and had quite a good time…
17 Tuesday Mar 2009
Posted in health & happiness, plants, sevilla, spain
This weekend the first orange blossom (azahar) was spotted in the centre of Sevilla. This is always the first sign of spring for me, though it never becomes “official” until you see the ya es primavera banners across the windows of El Corte Inglés.
For the next three weeks or so the streets of Seville will smell like heaven. I used to wonder why I found the fragrance of orange blossom so soothing until I found out that azahar has many therapeutic qualities, including its use as a natural sedative. Other therapeutic properties of orange blossom oil (aka Neroli) are antidepressant, antiseptic, anti-infectious, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, bactericidal, carminative, cicatrisant, cytophylactic, cordial, deodorant, digestive, emollient, and tonic. It takes about 1000 lbs. of orange blossoms to make 1 lb. of Neroli oil, which no doubt accounts for its rather hefty price tag.
But as lovely as Neroli is, it is no comparison for the delicate scent of orange blossom in the fresh spring air. Wish you could be here…
[ from azahar’s Sevilla ]
16 Monday Mar 2009
Posted in cancer, friends, health & happiness, life stuff
I’m afraid the black clouds were back this weekend.
I think the oncologist visit on Friday kind of threw me, as well as some other info I’ve been reading elsewhere. It suddenly hit home that I am in a remission state at the moment that I’ve been taking way too much for granted. Which at first felt like a bit of a wake up call, and I set about making sure that I didn’t waste any more days. Then I totally collapsed about half-way through my “wonderful day” and I realised that I need to do things differently. It seems that even taking things one day at a time is still more than I can handle, so I dunno … take things by the hour? Seriously, I think making lists and then just focusing on the job at hand is probably going to be the best way of coping for now. A little therapeutic tunnel vision. Hour by hour. Because trying to deal with a whole day is sometimes just too overwhelming.
So I’ll be starting today off with an hour of coffee & reading in bed, then an hour of yoga, and then … well then we’ll see if I can get the sun to come out. One hour at a time. . .
casa azahar 