Category Archives: hospitals

taking care of business

13 Tuesday May 2025

Posted by in health, health & happiness, home, hospitals, sevilla, spain

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It seems like all I’m doing these days is going to various doctor’s appointments, either mine or Peter’s. Shortly after Peter saw the nephrologist last Friday, which culminated in the fabulous breakfast you see above, before I had to give a Sherry & Tapas Tasting at 12.30 (no point in going home in between) he suddenly got a call saying he had an appointment for an abdominal ultrasound on Monday. Like wtf? Meanwhile I’ve been waiting since October to see the knee surgeon.

Anyhow, as Peter’s ultrasound was at the Virgen del Rocío general hospital yesterday I decided that, since we were there anyhow, I’d try and find out what’s going on with my other appointments. No small feat. I tried the general info office and was told I would have to go to each different department (in different buildings, natch) and check with their secretaries. To be honest, they were really nice, and when I got lost in the ultrasound dept a very nice woman (there with a friend, not employed by the hospital) helped me find the right secretary for echocardiograms. A shut door in a hallway, like what? And the woman said “just knock and walk in” so I did AND IT WORKED (who knew?) The secretary was on the phone but waved me in and motioned me to sit down. And she was great. Turns out I have an appointment on May 26th at 9.30 am. She said I will probably get the notice in the mail next week. Okay-dokey… but then the most important one was still not accounted for.

Off I headed to the Traumatology hospital (behind the general hospital). Yep more walking. Oh, I didn’t mention that getting a taxi to the hospital the day after Feria closed meant that the usual route was virtually shut down due to everyone trying to close their casetas and remove all their STUFF… when we finally managed to flag a taxi the driver said “it’s hell down there” and said he could find another less direct route so we didn’t end up stuck in traffic forever. What the heck. In the end it only cost about 4 euros more than the usual fare to the hospital and wow did we get a tour of the city! I was really impressed by this guy. But approaching the hospital entrance from “behind” meant we had to walk a bit to get to there. So then having to go BACK to the Traumatology hospital (where the taxi had dropped us off) felt a bit like OMFG… but hey we were already there. Or at least in the general vicinity. Whatever, went for it.

Hobbled over to the T-hospital and, after being misdirected a couple of times to the wrong person to ask, success! Just go down to the basement level and ask for the Secretary there. Downstairs. With only two of three lifts working and taking everyone from the basement, sub-basement and up all the floors up to the fifth one. Let’s just say they were SLOW in coming and then so packed out that I finally said FUCK THIS and hobbled/crutched my way down the stairs. Yeah, hurt like fuck, but so would have waiting half an hour for the fucking lift. Anyhow…

Eventually found the Secretary (I’m getting good at this!) hobbled in and said I was looking for my lost knee surgeon appointment. And, just like the other secretary, she was really nice and helpful, had a look around and said that because the original request for the appointment came from the Fleming Clinic I would have to back there to “reclamar”. And I just thought… oh no…

Because I probably should have done that last December instead of going to the Defensor del Pueblo, who are also very nice but so far… nothing helpful. And I should have definitely done this last March when I went to the Mercado Palmeritas doing research for a Bitesize article and WALKED RIGHT PAST the goddam Fleming Clinic on the way (it’s really not close to home). I could have just stopped in when I was in the neighbourhood. A missed moment? I guess I’ll find out.

Because I have a mammogram scheduled on Friday – SEE IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING – and no it’s not really close to Fleming but it’s also not far, so I am going to stop in there on the way and ask what’s going on. Because even the secretary at the main Traumatología hospital said this waiting period (since October) is not normal.

I hate to think I may have lost months because I didn’t take a day in December to go back to the scene of the crime and just ask them what the hell was going on. What I found out today is that this seems to be what you have to do. Not call, not write, not whatever else… just go there and stand in front of an actual person and ask them to check for you. You may lose a morning or an afternoon but hey, better than losing months by being in painful limbo.

So, that’s the plan and I guess there’s no point in thinking about what has maybe been lost, or how this or that may have turned out differently had I known this or that sooner, had acted sooner or better. Because it may not have turned out different or better anyhow. And all I can do is hope to get this dealt with. I’m so tired of it all, feeling helpless, always in pain, not knowing when (if??) help will be offered. So very tired.

not my week…

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

Posted by in health, hospitals, sevilla

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After the fear-filled fiasco of yesterday’s aborted MRI, today I headed out for my biannual mammogram. I am in The System as a woman of a certain age so every two years I get a notice for the next appointment. Except today I ended up at the wrong place at the right time. After a chat with the helpful staff at the hospital I was given a number for the new mammogram clinic location. Uffff. Okay, while it did affect my morning and general plans for the day at least there was no prep and, well, no all-day fear. I mean, mammograms hurt like fuckity, but they’re over and done with just before it reaches intolerable. 

Waiting to get the bus back home I called the new number and they acknowledged that I did indeed have an appointment with them today and also said “but we’ve moved!”. No shit. Anyhow, what the hell, I made a new appointment with them for May 16th and saw that my trusty 32 Bus will get me there in 45 hellish minutes (honestly that bus is always so packed, but at least I know I can always get one of the seats reserved for handicapped folks). That’s all really. Just another day. Now I am going to drink wine and cook… still perfecting my “whisky” sauce.

omg mri ffs

22 Tuesday Apr 2025

Posted by in health, hospitals, sevilla

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Today I finally went to get the MRIs (plural) on my shoulder and back. I’d had to postpone my appointment twice due to NON STOP COUGHING and was finally well enough to go and – hopefully – be able to lie still during the scan. You know me, I’ve been through countless PET and CT scans over the past 17 yeats and, while a bit uncomfortable, they were fine. In fact, But somehow I woke up dreading today’s MRIs. Everything awful I’d heard about people getting all claustrophobic and panicky inside them suddenly started flooding my imagination and by the time it was time to go to the clinic let’s just say I wasn’t feeling my calmest.

Decided to taxi there, though I kept an eye out for sneaky supplements, and 10 euros later I was at my destination. So far so good. Well, other than the hour long wait… apparently the person before me had had “complications”. Yep, was feeling more anxious by the moment. And then it was my turn. The 12 year old nurse asked me if I was claustrophobic and I said OH YEAH, BIG TIME and the smile left her face. I told her I was familiar with other scans, and had MRIs done on my knees, but this would be new for me.

Anyhoodle, into the room I went, fully prepared wearing nothing metal at all (was even wearing a slip on house bra with my back up bra in my bag for when I left). Ok then, they put me up on the platform, got me in position, told me it would only be 15 minutes but if I felt uncomfortable at any moment I had my panic button in my hand. All set, in I went…

Guys. I lasted maybe ten seconds. I MEAN it was like being shoved into a mechanical coffin, nothing at all like a CT or PET… it was so closed in and tight, I couldn’t have moved if I’d wanted to, and I think was the deal breaker. I COULDN’T HAVE MOVED IF I’D WANTED TO. I can’t even begin to tell you what that triggered inside me other than within seconds I was yelling “get me out of here!!!”.

Gotta say the staff were great, said it happens all the time, even to people who have had no problems with previous MRIs… one day suddenly they can’t. And so they suggested I make a new appointment for their “open MRI” but they couldn’t guarantee it would be better for me because, instead of 15 minutes, it would take close to an hour. Of not moving. Inside a machine. Also, often results from the open machine aren’t as precise.

I don’t know what to do. I made the appointment for the open machine for May 4th but meanwhile will talk with my GP (we already have a phone appt set up for next week). This is all about chronic shoulder and arm pain that has been going on for years, right shoulder and arm. Sometimes I feel almost normal, other times I want to cry it hurts so much, and there is now an almost constant tingling sensation in my right arm and hand. GP thinks it’s a nerve. Sucks, but if it means going back into that metal coffin… I honestly don’t think I can do it.

So I will wait and see what other info and options I get. This is not the worst of my present health issues, but ironically it’s the one that got seen to first. Meanwhile, been waiting to see the orthopaedic surgeon SINCE FUCKING OCTOBER. But next week I am going to get a Holter strapped onto me. And tomorrow is Mammogram Day. The fun never stops around here.

la línea 3

14 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by in casa azahar, health, health & happiness, hospitals, my barrio, sevilla, spain

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One of the many – out of MANY MANY MANY – reasons I love living where I do is how well connected I am by public transport in my barrio. And especially since getting my old geezer free bus pass, in combination with THE KNEE mobility issues, I can just hop on hop off taking buses for one or two stops… and trust me sometimes that makes all the difference.

Anyhow, today I had an appointment with the cardiologist at the ridiculously beautiful but otherwise not especially efficient Hospital Duque del Infantado. Get this. I saw my GP on March 17th and within a couple of weeks had received dates for two specialists appointments – Cardio and an MRI for my neck and shoulder. In fact, I had to move the MRI forward because I still had that pesky cough from when I was sick a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile I am STILL WAITING TO HEAR ABOUT THE KNEE SPECIALIST APPT THAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE OCTOBER. Fuck.

In the past, just like when I go to Hospital Virgen del Rocío, I’ve always just grabbed a taxi at the end of my street in front of the posh Gran Meliá Hotel Colón (always lots of taxis there). Six to eight euros well spent, I reckoned. But this week is Semana Santa, which means the Bastard Taxi Pirates are out for anything they can get. Yes, there is an official Semana Santa surcharge, but I just didn’t want to have to go through the hassle of all that. And so I checked the bus routes and saw… OMG… I could catch the updated Línea 3 not far from home and get dropped off about five minutes from the hospital. FOR FREE.

And it’s a good thing I discovered this as I now have an appointment there on April 28th to get a 24-hour Holter, and that is also where I will see the knee surgeon WHENEVER THAT HAPPENS. It’s actually one of the two specialist hospitals I end up at most. The other one, Clínica Fleming, is also accessible by bus. For now. It’s this time of year that I start to worry about whether my landlord is going to renew my contract in the summer, and I will now be on tenterhooks until July. But for now… just loving living here.