Category Archives: health & happiness

terry pratchett

13 Thursday Dec 2007

Posted by in books & writing, health & happiness, life stuff

≈ 7 Comments

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Pratchett has Alzheimer’s disease

Author Terry Pratchett is suffering from a rare form of early Alzheimer’s disease, it has been revealed.

He said: “I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news.

“I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s, which lay behind this year’s ‘phantom stroke’.”

He added: “We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism.

I first saw this on Paul Kidby’s website yesterday, via a post on Ask h2g2. Mr Pratchett is also quoted as saying he would prefer it if people “keep things cheerful”, but it’s hard not to feel sadness and concern. 😦

13º celsius

06 Thursday Dec 2007

Posted by in health & happiness, home, sevilla

≈ 16 Comments

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At least that’s what the new bedroom heater thermostat says.

Which means that is the usual temperature in casa az during the winter – and believe me, that is cold! Hence this new heater stuck on the wall next to the bed, plus another one in the living room. To paraphrase Scarlett … “As Bob is my witness, I will never be cold again!” (obviously paraphrasing, as anyone who has seen recent(ish) photos or the Sevilla Tapas blog can confirm that I clearly don’t ever go hungry).

So after about 14 winters of shivering at home, even after putting on three sweaters, it has been decided to heat casa az as much as is possible, given that the balcony doors don’t close properly (all six of them – double doors with several single-paned glass panels each) so that it’s often warmer outside than inside, especially at midday. And hang the expense!

Last winter Nog and I often stayed warm in the evenings by watching films on his laptop in bed, which was quite cosy. But now that we have the nice big television we’d rather watch stuff on that. Then yesterday we were both feeling a bit under the weather (I think I’m getting the cold that he’s almost recovered from) so we made up the Ikea sofabed in the evening, brought out the extra duvet and piled up cushions and pillows behind us … and it was fabulous! Really comfy being able to stretch my legs out in front of me and the cats loved it too. And so we did it again tonight – I think this is going to become a new cosy winter habit.

What do you do to stay warm?

gatito update

30 Friday Nov 2007

Posted by in animals & pets, health & happiness, home, life stuff, nablopomo

≈ 7 Comments

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Back to the vet’s tonight for last Saturday’s test results . . .

Which all in all weren’t too bad. Given Sunny’s age (14) and the fact that he’s overweight, the worst of it was some slight irregularity with kidney and liver function, but nothing scary. The vet prescribed the same liver meds Sunny was on the time he ate the poisoned cockroach (don’t ask) which is really expensive, but at least it’s only for one month. And she has also changed the daily kidney pills (which she says he’ll probably be on for the rest of his life) which are about twice as much as the supplements he’s been taking, but oh well. Also, his glucose is a bit high, so we have to change his food, which means changing Azar’s food as well, but the vet said since Azar is close to Sunny’s age (he’s 12) that the new diet would be good for him too.

Once all the new food and meds were added up it came to 150 euros ( gaaaa! that’s half a new 3″ viewscreen camera!!! ) but whaddaya gonna do, eh? At least it’s food for about three months and meds for one month. But now the gatito monthly maintenance has just doubled – yikes!

Meanwhile, I mentioned to the vet that I should bring Azar in soon for a checkup and she said that I should wait for awhile because, given his age, a blood test is sure to show some weird chronic stuff like Sunny’s did and she suggested that we ‘recuperate’ a bit from this initial financial outlay first.

So it looks like we’ll have to cut out at least one of our almost planned trips. Or else not get the new camera. How’s that for luck, eh nursemyra? 😉 Actually, I’m just glad we can afford to take the boys for regular check-ups and look after them properly. I’d rather have them around for a few more years than anything else.

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