Category Archives: hospitals

happy monday…

05 Monday Dec 2011

Posted by in cancer, cats, christmas, food & drink, friends, hospitals

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I mean, it started off okay. And nothing went horribly wrong. But things kept not going right. You know the sort of day I mean? Well, this was my Monday. At least until about an hour ago (it’s now 8pm).

I was actually supposed to have taken Luna and Loki to the vet’s for booster shots today, but one of Peter’s students changed her Friday class to this morning so I changed the appointment to Friday, because there’s no way I can handle taking two beasties to the vet’s on my own.

So fine. This freed up my late morning so I could go to the hospital to get my chemo port cleaned. I’d actually forgotten all about it – really should’ve gone last week. Anyhoodle, decided to make it a good morning and go to the gym before heading off to the hospital (new port cleaning hours are 12.00-1.00). And because Peter’s shoulder is causing him grief and he’s been complaining non-stop I thought it might be a good idea for him to go to emergency instead of waiting two months for the MRI… and this is when things started to go crappy.

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it’s official!

03 Thursday Nov 2011

Posted by in cancer, change, chemo, hospitals, sevilla, silly, weather

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Forget equinoxes and time changes, for me autumn doesn’t officially arrive until the first day I have to put on shoes. Which was today. Had to go out to the hospital this morning for the monthly chemo port cleaning and, while the heavy overnight rain had stopped, it was still a bit blustery and coolish. Dammit. I didn’t need to wear a jacket, but bare legs and mostly bare feet seemed like pushing it, so out came the dreaded tights and the (very dusty) purple shoes.

Not bad, I guess, but some years I’ve managed to keep wearing sandals until the last week of November. Basically it depends on if it rains.

Anyhow, I got a taxi over to the hospital. It’s different since they changed the port cleaning location – I used to go to the chemo infusion room in the evenings when they weren’t so busy and now I go to the blood lab building between 12-1pm. It’s actually a bit better not having to go to the chemo room, but it’s still a monthly reminder of THE CANCER and that the reason I have to keep this port in for five years is that they expect that I’m going to need it again…

But not today. There were two nurses on duty when I walked in and they immediately asked why I was dressed totally in black. I said I wasn’t, that I was wearing purple shoes and red earrings, but that didn’t satisfy them. Then I realised they must have thought I was in mourning, so I told them I was mourning the sun. Cracked them up. And they also relaxed, no longer worried I was a recent widow on top of having a chemo port in my chest.

So now that it’s autumn (it’s not officially winter until the Christmas lights are turned on) I need to go through my pathetic array of “warm clothing” and see what I can pull together. Even though it actually got up to 20º this afternoon. But I don’t want to buy anything new until I lose another ten kilos…

How’s the weather where you are?

biopsy results negative!

27 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, hospitals

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It was four weeks ago today that I had the emergency op – the one  that turned out to be an abscess on one of my ovaries and not anything related to my colon as the head surgeon had previously thought. I was told at the time that they didn’t think there was any cancer, but as a precaution they’d taken biopsy samples and said the results would be ready in two weeks. So two weeks ago I sent a text message to Isabel and Ricardo (of my nuclear medicine Team) to ask if they could check the results and when I didn’t hear back I reckoned that no news was good news.

But in fact good news is good news.

This evening I was over at Agustín’s getting him to witness my passport application and a message came through from Isabel that simply said “no describe nada de tumor” … my biopsy results in a nutshell! Right after that I had to go and take photos for my friend/client Maria at her shop and I forgot to call Isabel back, so she called me about an hour later and went over the results in a bit more detail. But the bottom line is that I’m okay! And although I was pretty sure someone would have called me before now if they’d found cancer, it was still a huge relief to see those words and talk to Isabel.

So I called Nog on my way home and he met me for a Cold Beer and some toasted almonds to celebrate.  A good day. 🙂

the best bed…

02 Friday Sep 2011

Posted by in cats, health & happiness, home, hope, hospitals

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THIS is all I could think about while I was at the hospital. Being home again in my bed with my boys. So you can imagine my joy when I found out this morning that I could go home.

I was sure in an out in record time – from operating table to home again in less than three days! I think in part because there was a serious bed shortage and also because my doctor knows that I’m a veteran, this being my fourth major abdominal surgery there. So he could rest assured that I knew what to do and how to take care of myself. But I was also surprised at how quickly I bounced back, being up and about in less than a day after the operation. So perhaps I’ll be able to do that Gourmet Tapas Tour on September 10th after all!

But don’t worry. I plan on taking it very easy. When I got home this afternoon the first thing I did (after snibbling the cats) was take a long hot shower and wash the hospital off me. Then I had a bit of lunch and then I had a lovely three-hour siesta with the boys. This is a photo of my rather rumpled bed after getting up. And oh man! I just felt like the luckiest person in the world to be back here. Sure I’ve still got a lot of pain and it’ll be awhile before I’m back to normal, but I’m still determined – perhaps more than ever – to stick to all the changes I’d been deciding on just before this happened.

Well, time for a light snack and a DVD before hitting the hay again. And thanks again for being with me through all this – it really meant the world to me.

up and about

01 Thursday Sep 2011

Posted by in change, health & happiness, hospitals

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Finally got my little office set up here at the hospital and have been getting some work done. I’m really recovering fast from this operation, even though I was slit open from sternum to pubes again. Considering it’s been less than 48 hours since the op I think I’m doing very well.

The doctor said this morning that I should try to be up and about as much as possible and so as soon as they got me off the morphine and removed the catheter I was able to move around. I just have a saline/antibiotic drip to move around with me on a wheelie pole and the icky drainage bag hanging off my belly, but compared to all the tubes I had me when I woke up from the op, this is nothing.

I just caught up on emails and have had more tapas tour requests. Also had to get in touch with the tours I have booked for Saturday, Monday and Tuesday to see if the clients would mind going out with Peter, and they are fine with that so at least they still get a tour and I don’t lose any money. I might actually be well enough to go out on the Tuesday one – hope so!

Feeling okay, but a bit depressed by all of this. Out of the blue I am back in hospital and hating it, worrying about Azar at home (he’s blocked up again) and generally wondering how I’m going to keep things together, including myself. But I’m very grateful for all the company online here at casa az and on Twitter.

Well, think I’ll take a wee siesta now. Not much else to do…