Category Archives: health & happiness

no more chemo hand!

03 Friday Apr 2009

Posted by in cancer, chemo, food & drink, friends, gadgets, health & happiness, hospitals

≈ 12 Comments

chemo-arm

… well, after today’s session.

And wow, as I sit here with my throbbingly painful “chemo arm” and weak & useless achy “chemo hand”, I am convinced that getting the port is the right way to go. It is seriously going take away one of the worst side effects I get from my present chemo regimen (Xelox/Oxiplatin infusion; Xeloda chemo pills). And so,  if the new whack of anti-nausea pills also work, then I’ll only – ha! – have to put up with the cold thang (not being able to touch, eat or drink anything cold), and feeling really really tired for about ten days out of the three-week cycle. “Razor throat” and “metal mouth” are also quite unpleasant, but they usually only last for 5 and 10 days respectively, and they don’t stop me from doing stuff (just from doing them pleasantly) …

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prognosis & treatment (4)

24 Tuesday Mar 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, home, hospitals, sevilla, spain, work

≈ 46 Comments

creation-michelangeloHave 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 …

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ow ow owww!!!

22 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by in fitness, health & happiness, rants

≈ 20 Comments

back-pain

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. . .

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latest pet scan

19 Thursday Mar 2009

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, photos, sevilla

≈ 21 Comments

pilarThat’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…

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ya es primavera

17 Tuesday Mar 2009

Posted by in health & happiness, plants, sevilla, spain

≈ 10 Comments

blossom

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 ]