Category Archives: hospitals

not my week…

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

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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

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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.

sick… again!

31 Monday Mar 2025

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What started last week as a sore throat seemed to be another of “those things” going around. I’d had almost identical symptoms last December just before Christmas. Both then and now repeated Covid-Flu tests have come back negative so I didn’t think too much about it. Turns out I should have been staying home! I was out for a rather glorious lunch at Restaurante Limón on Thursday, invited by the PR at five-star Don Ramón Hotel, and felt okay when I got there. But by the time lunch was over I was feeling decidedly not okay and, after getting home, it was all I could to do shower and put myself to bed. And well, I’ve been there ever since. Other than a trip to emergency today.

It was truly bizarre going from having such mild symptoms to becoming bedridden within a couple of hours. The scariest symptom is that since Saturday my vision started going wonky, but really they are all very worrying and unpleasant (I brought a written list of them with me to the hospital). Anyhow, I have a an assortment of meds now, so hopefully they will have the desired effect.

medical check list

17 Monday Mar 2025

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I was ready today! Had blood tests done a while back so it was time to check in with Nice GP again. Peter also needed some things checked out so we made back-to-back appointments (he needs a translator and it’s easier than coming at separate times). Aside from what I might hear re: the blood tests I also had a check list of a few things that had been causing me concern.

Peter went first. He needs to get more blood work done along with some other tests, and also has to see a kidney specialist, meanwhile he’ll continue on blood pressure meds, the vitamin D mega pills and will also start on statins. Phew.

Then it was my turn. Going through the blood test results it turns out that my good/bad cholesterol levels are kind of cancelling each other out, my sugar levels are “borderline” and everything else is pretty normal. So no extra meds for me (yet), just continuing with the blood pressure ones.

[WARNING: this is totally boring, continue reading at your own risk]

And then I took out my list. First off was the neuropathy in my feet that I’ve had since chemo (2009) but has been getting noticeably more painful. I was concerned it could be diabetes related but my blood test results cancelled that out. Doc recommended a new multi-vitamin that is meant to specifically help with neuropathy. Okay.

Next up… my old nemesis tachycardia has been really been knocking me sideways over the past few months. I’ve had this since I was about 25 and to date nobody has ever actually diagnosed me, after countless ECGs and Holters and cardiologist visits… nothing ever happens THEN but then a day later at home my heart goes crazy. Anyhow, another cardiology appointment has been requested and this time I want answers. Because I’m pretty sure it’s POTS but I don’t know why recently symptoms are happening when I’m just sitting at my desk (like now) or even when I’m in bed (which is actually scary). That’s new. And worrying.

But I wasn’t finished. My seemingly random SHOULDER PAIN came back a couple of months ago. And I mean, on top of knee pain and not being able to walk it’s almost too much so I decided to ask yet again if anything could be done about this (nobody else has said anything other than “take these pills”). But Nice GP said it sounded like a nerve problem because of the pins-and-needles and she has requested an MRI.

By the time I got around to mentioning my KNEE and that I was still waiting after 5 months to see the surgeon I could tell I’d kind of worn out my welcome. I mean, I get it. When Agustín was my GP he told me they were allowed 4 minutes per patient and between me and Peter we’d already taken up close to half an hour. She said the only thing I could do about that was put in an official complaint with the hospital and, well, that’s already done.

Then it was back downstairs to book appointments. It’s curious because some appointments are made automatically when the doctor orders them (then you wait for the call), but others need to be done at the reception desk. WHATEVER. Did all that. And an hour and a half after getting to the health centre we were released. 

A footnote: Peter and I were the ONLY ones wearing masks other than one woman who was clearly keeping her distance. Also, I am so grateful for Nice GP (who replaced Heartless GP back in June 2024). She actually listens and gets things done.