Category Archives: health

unwell

03 Tuesday Sep 2024

Posted by in health, health & happiness, home, sevilla

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unwell

Well damn… I’ve been having gastro “issues” off an on since, well always, but these past few months they’ve become more frequent, though usually it ends up being a 24-hour thing and then it’s gone. Anyhow, after getting home from last night’s lovely outdoor event I started feeling unwell and went immediately to bed, then spent the night with chills/fever, vomiting and diarrhea… not nice. Checking in with the friends who were with me, including Peter, everyone else is fine so it’s probably not food poisoning. At least the fever etc is gone but I’ve got some intense lower abdominal pain/cramping. Waiting to see how that evolves.

final pedi 2024

28 Wednesday Aug 2024

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last pedi 24

When I discovered the little nail place in my street earlier this year I decided to splash out on a pedicure as I hadn’t had one since 2018 (!) and boy did it show. I mean, not just the toe nails, but the state of my feet in general. This is now the third one I’ve had this summer and will be the last one this year. I’ve come to realise that they are not as much of a “luxury” as I once thought simply because I can’t manage the same kind of treatment on my own. I mean, I don’t try to cut my own hair either. Anyhow, this is the first summer I can remember that I didn’t end up with cracked and bleeding heels (though that might also be due in part to NOT BEING ABLE TO WALK) and for that alone it’s been worth it. Plus they are really nice!

I can’t walk

16 Friday Aug 2024

Posted by in health, health & happiness, knee saga, knees, sevilla, sevilla staycation

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cant walk

Seriously, I cannot walk anymore. I’ve been doing my best to get out and about each day, but this past week I just can’t. It just fucking hurts too much. Even with the cane, even if I walk slowly. The extreme shooting pain in my (front lower left) right knee makes even a short walk around the block an exercise in constant agony. And so I wonder if I should be even trying to walk on that leg if it hurts THAT bad. Because the pain ends up extending down the entire lower leg. The left knee is no picnic either, but compared to this… there’s no comparison.

I can still shuffle around the apartment, more or less. But each time I have to get up to go to the kitchen, the bathroom, whatever, I have to steel myself for the inevitable shooting pain. Even so, I’m still doing my daily chair workouts (yay! thank god for them!). But my next MRI is a whole month away (September 16th) and I honestly don’t know what to do between now and then.

Not only has this put a serious damper on my Staycation (it’s actually pretty depressing and has left me feeling all scatter-brained, unable to concentrate) I’m worried about next month. I have some tours booked in those first couple of weeks, but… a four hour walking tour? Srsly?? I mean, I know we’re not walking the whole time, but that’s an easy 8,000 steps. I could probably still do the wine tastings as it would mean ONLY hobbling down to Morales and back again. But the tours? How? Going to the supermarket almost has me in tears.

I’ve been icing the area, using different anti-inflammatory creams, keeping up with the chair exercises, but every day it’s getting worse. What I need is a proper diagnosis and then a plan of action… treatment? physio? surgery? I just need to know something. Not knowing what is happening is really dragging me down. Anyhow, just venting today because being stuck inside and the constant pain is really getting to me. xx

PS
for those asking… I can’t take anti-inflammatory meds like Ibuprofen due to my BP, and I won’t live on a steady diet of pain killers. I just won’t.

staycation (almost over!)

12 Monday Aug 2024

Posted by in health, hope, sevilla, sevilla staycation, spain

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final stretch

So this is the home stretch, the final three weeks of my Staycation, which officially began on July 8th, so eight whole weeks in total (my next tours are booked for the first week in September). Although I could ill afford taking so much time off I chose to do it because 1) I needed a break, a serious “time out” to hopefully sort out what to do next and 2) I can barely walk anymore. I had a few vague plans and ideas, I had some hope…

And well, I can’t say I didn’t end up achieving any of my goals as most of them were so vague that it would be hard to know if they were achieved or not, but I do feel a bit disappointed that not much has changed. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed this time off, just being able to do WHATEVER when I got up in the morning. And I’m still doing the daily workouts. But as for the rest… I dunno. I’m not even very sure about what I thought might happen, though I did hope the time out would help give me some clarity. Nope.

Anyhow, three more weeks then back to work. That is IF I can walk. There are okay days and then some really not okay days. Like today. I tried walking down to the river and back (not far) and I was almost crying from the stabbing pain in my right knee. One good thing is that I got the appointment for my MRI… September 16th! So there’s a bit of hope. I may just develop a what-the-hell approach for these last three weeks, meaning just fuck it all and stop even thinking that I need to be accomplishing or improving or changing anything. Just be. Maybe I should have been doing this all along. How’s your summer going?

beer o’clock therapy

06 Tuesday Aug 2024

Posted by in health, health & happiness, sevilla, tapas, tapas bars

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beer oclock therapy

I guess I should have known something was up when I barely managed to drag myself out for an evening walk last Friday and after that spent two entire days hiding out at home. I say “hiding out” because that’s what it felt like. I blamed my KNEE because, frankly, walking hurts like fuck. But there was something else going on, I think. And maybe that’s what led to yesterday’s HOME PANIC ATTACK.

Today started off fine. I managed a reasonable 5 hours of sleep (4 + 1 later on) and felt okay. Got my “office work” out of the way and then did a good cardio chair workout. But then what? Early afternoon is when I prefer to go out. Sometimes for lunch, or to go shopping and run errands, getting those steps in before it get too hot. But I wasn’t feeling it and just when I was about to cave and stay home I remembered that I hadn’t posted a Beer O’clock pic on Instagram since last Friday. OMG.

Thing is, people often think I am eating (and drinking) out every day because I post photos on my Sevilla Tapas social media accounts every day. But… hey, that’s my job. And I mean, that’s the “magic” of social media of course, nothing is ever as it seems. EXCEPT my Beer O’clock photos. Those are the only photos I upload in real time (no cheating!).

And so that’s what got me dressed and out the door today, FUCK THE KNEE. I mean, whatever it takes, right? And well, it was fine. I’m glad I went out, but I’m not gonna lie, it hurt like crazy and I had to keep stopping for a break, literally gasping in pain at times. But I got to sit at the bar in Las Teresas, have a frosty cold beer, chat with the barman and the owner and feel like I always do in these lovely Sevilla bars of mine… totally at home. Worth it.