Category Archives: hospitals

on being proactive

28 Tuesday Nov 2023

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

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gamba taco

What does a gorgeous looking gamba taco have to do with being proactive? Well I’m here to tell ya.

Today I decided to stop waiting around for my upcoming appointments with my oncologist and also the breast ultrasound that was ordered after my mammogram… last spring!? So off I went to the hospital to talk directly to the Oncology secretary. And well, damn good thing I did too! After more than an hour wait – with next to nobody wearing a fucking mask IN THE FUCKING ONCOLOGY WAITING ROOM – I managed to secure an appointment for two weeks from now. The hold up, it seems, was that they were waiting for me to do the second colonoscopy, which I did in August, but blah blah… it somehow wasn’t registered in their files.

Then it was off to the Women’s Hospital to ask about the ultrasound but by the time I got there the office had closed, so now I will have to call. I hate calling. But I will.

After that, given the location of the Women’s Hospital, I suggested to Peter and we go to a cosy local bar about ten minutes away for a beer and a snack. Well, it wasn’t ten minutes, more like twenty after having to go under rail tracks and and back up, whatever… we got there to be told the tables were all reserved for members. Fuck. So we kept walking… until Tradevo Nervión.

Tradevo is one of my fave places, though I usually go to the central location, and well, we literally stumbled in really needing to SIT DOWN only to see the entire bar and restaurant jam-packed full. Then someone said “Shawn, is that you?” and we were whisked out to the back patio with a little heater beside us and all was well. There was a quick cold beer, followed by a couple of tapitas, a glass of wine, and after that lovely experience it was just a ten minute walk to the Tram to take us five minutes from home.

And so… appointment secured, a lovely light lunch and almost 10,000 steps!

f*kn knees man

03 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by in health, hospitals, knee saga, knees, sevilla

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traumatologia

And it goes on and on. This is the traumatology hospital at Virgen del Rocío, part of their massive university hospital complex (the one that saved my life back in 2008). I didn’t really expect to end up here today (last visit was – I think – when Peter almost put his eye out on Christmas Day). BUT the right knee that had been giving me problems since a few days before the MRI on the left knee last week suddenly went GAAAAH and the pain was just awful. Scary awful. And checking possible reasons on google was not helping.

So a couple of hours and two taxi rides later I was back home again after a jab of anti-inflammatory, a bandage around my knee and a prescription for paracetamol and metamizole. Treatment – stay off my leg and put ice on it. Cause of pain – I overburdened my knee (by being fat). Almost a waste of time (I’m not taking either of the drugs prescribed or wearing that shitty bandage) other than Dr Grumpy said I don’t have any fluid build up around the knee so if there is a Baker’s Cyst there it’s very small, plus he ruled out a DVT.

I also found out that I have osteoarthritis in both knees, not just the left one that had been MRI’d. When I expressed surprise/concern Dr Grumpy snapped (while looking at my xray taken in July) “Well of course you do, if you have it in one you have it in both, but the left one is worse”. Yet it’s my right knee that hurts like fuckity. Apparently because I’m “overloading” it. So fine. I am at home with an ice pack and without the shitty bandage that bunches up and cuts off my circulation. How was your day?

my first mri!

27 Wednesday Sep 2023

Posted by in health, hospitals, knee saga, knees

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mri

Remember back in June when my left knee totally gave out, excruciating pain, etc… then I got an x-ray done in July and an MRI was recommended? Well I finally had the MRI done today but since Sunday my right knee has been so painful I can barely walk, so I was wondering if they would do a twofer while I was there. No dice. I was told they were only authorized to do the left knee. I thought it would be like the x-ray, with both knees done at the same time, but they used this exact machine (see pic – same brand and everything) which, as you can see, is for one knee only. So fine. I was still thinking this was going to be easy peasy until the technician finally got my leg locked into position and then said… “it’s very important that you do not move AT ALL”. Again, not too worried thinking it would be like an x-ray, hey no problem. But it turned out I was not allowed to move AT ALL for 25 minutes. Gaaahhh…
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here we go again…

23 Wednesday Aug 2023

Posted by in health, hospitals

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colonoscopy again

Since the last botched procedure in April I’ve been waiting for an appointment for another colonoscopy and finally got the call today… it will be next Thursday (!!). So not much time to fret but just enough time to prep for the prep. This time I’m going to start the low-residual diet a day early (Sunday) and basically try to eat as little as possible next week. ALSO, this time I have the prep instructions from the hospital (last time I had to look them up online) and it’s a bit different from what I did, so maybe that was the reason I ended up “badly prepped”?

These instructions have three different options depending on the time of the appointment (the others only had morning and afternoon options and my appointment was at noon, same as next week). So I will follow the “midday instructions” and do the usual thing with the SOLUCIÓN EVACUANTE the evening before but also get up extra early and take more of the stuff, being sure to finish six hours before my appointment, at which point I’m not even allowed water. I sure hope it works this time, and also that they don’t find anything scary. 🤞

the endo

07 Monday Aug 2023

Posted by in health, hospitals, sevilla

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the endo

I’m so fucking disappointed. Have been holding out on the statins until I could see the endocrinologist (appointment was on Friday) because I thought surely at least some of these things can be controlled by diet, and I am uneasy about taking statins. So I was hoping to get some guidance in that area as well as get her opinion on some other issues going on (with my pancreas, recurring abdominal pain, etc).

But no. First of all I was the only one wearing a mask in the health centre, including the doctors. I will still never understand this. But I arrived prepared with a printed sheet of my various health “incidents” and the treatments, as well as more recent issues, hoping at least she might be able to explain the whole “pancreas mystery” that’s been going on forever. Did she listen? Did she fuck.

No eye contact. She had an assistant there (junior doctor approx 14 years old) taking notes etc while she kept her eyes glued to her computer screen and typing away, seemingly eager to get the report finished at the same time she stopped talking to me. I tried to tell her about the cancer, the ops, the recurring abdominal pain, the post chemo weight gain, but was cut short with “TELL ME WHAT YOU ATE YESTERDAY”.

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