Category Archives: hope

azahar rising

27 Wednesday Jan 2010

Posted by in art, cancer, friends, health & happiness, hope, love

≈ 8 Comments

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Just yesterday I was telling you how I am constantly overwhelmed by the generosity of my friends, and then this came in the mail … a paper collage made by healingmagichands. Not only is it beautiful, but I could feel the love and caring that was put into creating it and it made me feel very special indeed.

This piece has been in my mind for several weeks, but it took a long time to gel. I don’t know that I necessarily need to explain this work, but my “artist’s note” would say something about the power of will and strength overcoming shadows & ill health. The vine along the left side is sort of the continuity of life as the struggle goes on, growth does not necessarily stop and in fact, the struggle may even nurture grown. At any rate, the vine gains in strength as it rises.

I call this “azahar rising”.

Thanks so much, Ellie.

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25 meals

17 Sunday Jan 2010

Posted by in change, food & drink, friends, home, hope

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It came as a shock when Nog & I realised it was time to do our monthly “big shop” at the supermarket the other day … and then also realised that there wasn’t enough money! Nog has lost some students over the past couple of months, and I have not yet been able to rebuild my student client base since starting back to work – I only have 2 classes a week. In the end I had to use a credit card I keep for emergencies only (my other one is maxed) and we were able to stock up for the next while or so. And it got me thinking it would be better to stockpile some meals, also using what had been in the freezer … so two days and many hours spent slaving over a hot stove later, the result was about 25 single serving meals. How cool is that?

Yeah, I know. I should have used the gift donations over Christmas for more practical purposes, but as they were given for the explicite purpose of going out for tapas (and I also wanted to get more photos for Sevilla Tapas) that is what I did.

Anyhow, check it out. Clockwise from upper-left: spicy chicken burrito sauce, bolognese sauce, pork & veg stew, pork & spinach garam masala, and chorizo & prawn risotto. Of course, by the time all this was made neither of us felt like eating it, so last night I made some beer-battered prawns and chips with the left-overs …

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clean

13 Wednesday Jan 2010

Posted by in cancer, change, friends, hope, hospitals, yoga

≈ 57 Comments

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This is very true…
But a clean PET scan is the best birthday present ever!

I have to admit that I’m still processing all this. As many of you know, I was pretty tied up in knots about this latest PET scan (my fourth). Partly due to the timing … my recurrence last March happened six months after finishing chemo, and this was also six months since I finished chemo for the second time in July. And partly because for the past few weeks I’ve been experiencing some pretty bad abdominal pain. I was half-convinced the cancer was back, and started beating myself up for not doing the whole “anti-cancer” antioxidant diet, for not losing weight and getting super-fit, for not … being perfect? I dunno. I just felt I could have done better and was sure I was now going to be “punished” for not having done so (those sicko Catholic upbringings take a lot of getting over). Anyhow, I was a mess. And so, when I hadn’t heard from the hospital about my PET scan appointment last week I started pestering The Team…

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