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So I did. And I did.
doing it
11 Thursday Jul 2013
Category Archives: hospitals
getting my head examined
09 Tuesday Jul 2013
Posted in health & happiness, hospitals
About three months ago I got a wicked sinus/ear infection that just wouldn’t go away. In fact, over a month after it originally hit me I ended up taking some crazy scary anti-biotics to try and get rid of it, which didn’t work and left me with a sun-sensitive rash all over my arms.
Finally it was decided that I should get my head examined! Well, that I should have an xray done to determine if the eardrums were being blocked from the other side, in which case I would need to have some sort of operation. Great. So this morning I went back to the health centre for both a head xray and a hearing test. I’m happy to report that the xray showed that my passages weren’t blocked anywhere anymore, and the test results were better than expected – it turns that my hearing is well above average.
So then why are my eardrums still crackling and why do they still hurt?
Nobody seems to know. Though the doctor today said that my sinuses were much clearer than last time so maybe it was just a question of time and he said that I should keep using the steroid spray he’d prescribed earlier (that I keep forgetting to use).
I mean, I’m thrilled that they didn’t find something scary in my head – as usual I was worried it might be cancer-related – but it’s actually not very comforting that nobody seems to know what’s wrong. Well, perhaps the sea air will help?
another day off!
22 Monday Apr 2013
Posted in animals & pets, cats, friends, health & happiness, home, hospitals, life stuff
I’m going to have to stop taking days off … they’re too exhausting. As it turns out, today is my only day off this week as I have tapas tours booked from tomorrow until Sunday (eep!). So of course today I had to GET THINGS DONE. This started off with answering a few emails (yes, work related stuff, but when you’re freelance these things need to be done) and then I decided it was a good time to wash, iron and rehang all the floor-to-ceiling white living room curtains.
That done (they look fab now!) I scooted off to the gym, thinking I’d have just enough time before heading over to the hospital for the monthly chemo port cleaning. Which I did. Just.
After that I walked over to Pablo’s to see the kittehs since he lives in the general vicinity of the hospital and I hadn’t seen the wee darlings for a week. As you can see, they are a little bit bigger now, though what you can’t see is that they are much more wide-eyed and frisky and checking things out. But it was feeding time when I arrived and they were less than thrilled about me “unplugging” them so I could hold them and take a closer look (still can’t decide which one is MINE!). By then it was lunch time so Pablo and I headed out for a nice tapa lunch in his barrio, handily a place I’d been wanting to update on Sevilla Tapas for some time, so okay, that was kind of work related, but it was also lunch.
After lunch I decided to walk home, which took a good hour or so. A lovely long walk past the park that I hadn’t done in ages. Then I stopped off at the Flamenco Museum to book and purchase tickets for one of Peter’s tours, which yeah, was kind of like working. But it was ON THE WAY and anyhow was a lovely afternoon and perfect walking weather.
Finally got back home and dealt with a few more biz emails (yeah, yeah I know!) before heading out to get my hair cut. And (just like my curtains) I look fab now! Then I had to pick up a few summer lingerie essentials and also had a quick look around to see if there were any nice summery clothes in my SIZE that I liked. There weren’t. So it was back home again to feed the cats, change my sheets (it’s Monday!) and have a second shower after all that running around.
And now, if you don’t mind, I think I shall pour myself a lovely chilled glass of rueda and put my feet up. Cheers!
all clear!
12 Tuesday Mar 2013
Posted in cancer, friends, health & happiness, hope, hospitals
HUGE sigh of relief… my PET scan was clear today and so I get another six months. I do wonder if this is becoming “routine” for those reading and – like with some people I know – I get the “oh, don’t worry, you’re going to be fine!” thing beforehand and the “I knew you’d be okay!” afterwards. Which I know is a way of people saying that they are hoping for the best. But sometimes it feels like it is diminishing my own feelings about these tests.
I will be having PET scans every six months until next year and, if all is still well by that time, the scans will then be reduced to once a year. Why? Because I am still considered very high risk for recurrence. And why do I worry so much when I’ve had clean scans for the past four years? Because I’ve already lost a dear friend who was “cancer-free” for four years and another dear friend has been struggling through his latest recurrence for the past year or so. Trust me, these tests are very expensive. They don’t just do them as a matter of course – you have to be considered high risk.
Which is me.
Anyhow, I went off in the rain early this morning and was thrilled to see that the lovely Pilar was a part of my PET team today. She is such a lovely person and a long-time friend. You may recall that back when I was sick on chemo and desperate about how I was going to get through the summer she gave me a month. So it was great finding out that she was on duty today. After my first run through the PET machine I sat with her in the computer room watching my scan images spinning around… first time I’ve ever done that. Pili showed me how this bit was like this, another bit like that. Kind of cool and also a bit freaky. Then we went off for breakfast and after that I had to go through the machine again (this almost always happens because I have a dodgy area that needs rechecking) and then suddenly I was okay!
But you know, after all the build-up of stress and worry it actually takes awhile for the Good News to sink in. So Peter met up with me and we went for a celebratory glass of Botani at the Vineria San Telmo, and then it was a walk home in the rain…
Now I’m here all cosy and thankful and kind of floppy, to be honest. This whole ordeal really takes it outta me. So I think I’ll just take it easy this afternoon and evening. The Next Six Months can start mañana…
pre-pet low carb day
11 Monday Mar 2013
Posted in cancer, food & drink, hope, hospitals
Apparently you are not supposed to eat carbohydrates 48 hours before a PET scan. Who knew? Well okay, I sorta knew as I used to read about some people’s pre-PET regimens on the Colon Club forum, but as nobody here had ever said anything other than I shouldn’t eat six hours before the scan I didn’t think it mattered that much.
Turns out that it is rather important as too much carb-sugar can skew the scan results, often ending up with false positives. Likewise doing any strenuous exercise 48 hours before a scan. I actually knew about the latter but can’t actually see the connection in the same way as the sugar connection – Sledpress, can you shed any light on this?
It also turned out that, coming home after two days of – let’s be honest – some rather intense tapearing in Málaga, I felt like I needed to detox a bit. So yesterday I eschewed carbs and went for nice light veggie and protein meals, which means that just by chance I am doing the 48-hour thing. But I wonder why I have never been told about this at the hospital here. Ah well, by this time mañana I will know if I am okay for another six months or if……
casa azahar 