Category Archives: hospitals

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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biopsy report

11 Thursday Dec 2008

Posted by in cancer, health & happiness, hospitals

≈ 46 Comments

biopsy

All three biopsies came back negative!!!

So it was back to the hospital this morning with Pipocas. I was supposed to get my belly looked at again after last week’s emergency trip due to having an infection.  I was worried because something gross had ruptured through the incision and was looking rather nasty, but it turned out not to be anything serious and I was even told I could stop taking the antibiotics now.  And while there I asked Amazing Nurse Person if she could check and see if my biopsy reports had come back …

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bedridden

03 Wednesday Dec 2008

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

≈ 29 Comments

taxi-2

Yet another taxi ride to the hospital today.

On Monday the nurse came over and took out my staples (ouch!) and when I asked him why the pain wasn’t getting any better he just said it was a big incision, plus it was the second time they’d opened the same area, so that it would probably take longer to heal.  I’m also having a bit of leakage  (ewww) but the nurse said it didn’t look infected, and I didn’t have a fever, so we left it at that. And then . . .

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