Category Archives: health & happiness

situation normal…

06 Friday Feb 2009

Posted by in cancer, computers, friends, gadgets, health & happiness, hope, hospitals, work

≈ 27 Comments

scream-thumbs-up-lg

Yay! My CT scan and blood test results came back normal!
So that means a happy thumbs-up “all clear” until next time (in 3 months).

It was such a relief when Ricardo called me late yesterday afternoon with the good news.  And today he is going to set up an appointment with his oncologist friend Ana so that I don’t have to go back to those other oncs I’ve been seeing. I was a bit confused because I thought each oncology group was for a specific type of cancer, and I’ve seen all three oncs in my group. Well, it turns out that Ana is not only a specialist in breast and colon cancer, but she’s also the second in command of the whole department.  And I’ve been told she’s a very no-nonsense kind of person, so I hope I feel more comfortable with her.

So … should I go get that mini ‘puter now?

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lunch and stuff

29 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, life stuff, photos, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 11 Comments

gorgonzola-walnut-salad

Good friends, good food, good wine …

Pipocas, Flor and I had an absolutely fabulous time at Tre Fratelli yesterday. In fact, it was a pretty fine day all round. Starting off with yoga class, then an hour or so later Flor came over for further computer instruction. Pip met us here and we walked over to the restaurant together.  And for the next three hours there wasn’t even the eensiest hint of dead air.

Today will be quite something else. I need to fast from about 10am and then start drinking that gawd awful strawberry-flavoured barfium snot around 4 o’clock. Then I’ll walk up to Pip’s office at 6 and we’ll head off to the hospital for my CT scan.

Ah well, at least I have some nice memories …

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reorganising my life

16 Friday Jan 2009

Posted by in health & happiness, home, teaching, work

≈ 9 Comments

new-studio

This is what I did yesterday (with Nog’s help).

All the while I haven’t been able to work (since last May) I’ve been thinking about what I was going to do once I was able to get back to work again.  Which was something I thought wouldn’t come to pass for a few more months because of being on post-op chemo, but suddenly it’s now! And although I’m still not totally sure about what’s going to happen, this hasn’t stopped me from taking immediate action. And the first point of business was to create an “easy-to-work-in-multi-concept space” … as in, I have no idea what the fuck I’m going to end up doing, but I want to be able to do any or all of it as easily as possible. 😉

The biggest room at casa az is the livingroom. To the left of these tables are the bookshelves and my computer desk, to the right is the sofa, as well as the TV and exercise bike.  This is what it used to look like …

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friends

15 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, life stuff

≈ 11 Comments

hug.jpg

“Remember, no man is a failure who has friends”
(It’s A Wonderful Life)

They say that you can tell who your real friends are in times of crisis, and there is nothing quite as crisis-making as having a possibly terminal illness. I’ve heard stories from friends in similar situations who have been terribly hurt and let down by people who turned their backs in times of serious need. I was lucky that this only happened to me once [ * ] during this whole cancer ordeal, right at the beginning of it, and that since then I have felt nothing but love and support from the people I am fortunate to call my friends…

[ * ] well, my immediate family also dumped me (Joe & Olivia excepted) but as Nog says, that’s what families are for.  😉

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“cured!” (for now)

14 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, life stuff

≈ 32 Comments

no-cancer

Actually, the correct term to use is NED (No Evidence of Disease) – cancer survivors tend to steer away from that other C-word. But imagine my surprise, after spending almost two hours with Ricardo yesterday morning, with him very patiently explaining everything about my case, to find out that I’ve been NED since the biopsy reports came back last October, which was then reconfirmed by the third operation. This is the short version of el caso az …

  • primary stage IV colon tumour and surrounding lymph nodes removed
  • two secondary tumours found in liver
  • two months of chemo
  • liver resection aborted after discovery of peritoneal lesions
  • all biopsy results negative
  • PET scan shows liver metastasis eliminated after chemo
  • third operation to “clean up” liver and peritoneum
  • peritoneal lesions turn out to be benign scar tissue
  • all biopsy results negative
  • “wait & watch” – testing every 3 months
  • high probability of recurrence

It ain’t perfect, especially that last bit,
but at least for now I feel like I have my life back …

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