Category Archives: hospitals

so now what?

13 Friday Mar 2009

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, hospitals, rants

≈ 22 Comments

confused

Met with my new oncologist this morning.

First of all I have to say that Ana is fabulous. Very patient, very straightforward, very clear … in fact, I spent over an hour talking things over with her. Given that she is the “sub-directora” (what’s that in English?) of the oncology department at my hospital, part of me felt a bit guilty about taking up so much of her time. But if I hadn’t kept asking questions we would never have got to the place we are now with my treatment. Which is still very confusing but, as Ana said, at least I will feel like I am doing everything possible…

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situation normal…

06 Friday Feb 2009

Posted by in cancer, computers, friends, gadgets, health & happiness, hope, hospitals, work

≈ 27 Comments

scream-thumbs-up-lg

Yay! My CT scan and blood test results came back normal!
So that means a happy thumbs-up “all clear” until next time (in 3 months).

It was such a relief when Ricardo called me late yesterday afternoon with the good news.  And today he is going to set up an appointment with his oncologist friend Ana so that I don’t have to go back to those other oncs I’ve been seeing. I was a bit confused because I thought each oncology group was for a specific type of cancer, and I’ve seen all three oncs in my group. Well, it turns out that Ana is not only a specialist in breast and colon cancer, but she’s also the second in command of the whole department.  And I’ve been told she’s a very no-nonsense kind of person, so I hope I feel more comfortable with her.

So … should I go get that mini ‘puter now?

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it could have been worse…

30 Friday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, hospitals, sevilla, tapas

≈ 16 Comments

drink-coffee-posters1

It’s true that I don’t really start functioning properly until I’ve had my 1.5 cups of steaming hot coffee in the morning, preferably brought to my bedside by Nog so I can stay snuggled under the duvet with my laptop until I have to get up and face the day. But yesterday wasn’t a typical day because I had the dreaded CT scan scheduled and so, even after the usual amount of morning coffee, I decided to stay in bed awhile longer, snuggle cats, and try to forget what was going to happen.

As it turned out, and compared to previous “scan days”, it could have been much worse…

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lunch and stuff

29 Thursday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, life stuff, photos, restaurants, sevilla, spain, tapas

≈ 11 Comments

gorgonzola-walnut-salad

Good friends, good food, good wine …

Pipocas, Flor and I had an absolutely fabulous time at Tre Fratelli yesterday. In fact, it was a pretty fine day all round. Starting off with yoga class, then an hour or so later Flor came over for further computer instruction. Pip met us here and we walked over to the restaurant together.  And for the next three hours there wasn’t even the eensiest hint of dead air.

Today will be quite something else. I need to fast from about 10am and then start drinking that gawd awful strawberry-flavoured barfium snot around 4 o’clock. Then I’ll walk up to Pip’s office at 6 and we’ll head off to the hospital for my CT scan.

Ah well, at least I have some nice memories …

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“cured!” (for now)

14 Wednesday Jan 2009

Posted by in cancer, friends, health & happiness, hospitals, life stuff

≈ 32 Comments

no-cancer

Actually, the correct term to use is NED (No Evidence of Disease) – cancer survivors tend to steer away from that other C-word. But imagine my surprise, after spending almost two hours with Ricardo yesterday morning, with him very patiently explaining everything about my case, to find out that I’ve been NED since the biopsy reports came back last October, which was then reconfirmed by the third operation. This is the short version of el caso az …

  • primary stage IV colon tumour and surrounding lymph nodes removed
  • two secondary tumours found in liver
  • two months of chemo
  • liver resection aborted after discovery of peritoneal lesions
  • all biopsy results negative
  • PET scan shows liver metastasis eliminated after chemo
  • third operation to “clean up” liver and peritoneum
  • peritoneal lesions turn out to be benign scar tissue
  • all biopsy results negative
  • “wait & watch” – testing every 3 months
  • high probability of recurrence

It ain’t perfect, especially that last bit,
but at least for now I feel like I have my life back …

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