floaters and flashes

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About a month or so ago I went to see my GP Agustín because I had suddenly developed floaters in my right eye, accompanied by flashing lights in the right hand corner (only noticable when it was dark). So he put in a request for an appointment with the ophthamologist and said they would get in touch. Then I started getting those flashing zig-zaggy prisms right across my eye, though they didn’t last long. But the point was that things weren’t getting any better and I still hadn’t heard from the specialist about my appointment.

The reason I wasn’t super worried about it was because this very same thing happened to me almost exactly 9 years ago. And I got it checked out and it was nothing, and eventually went away. But after having mentioned this here, and also to a couple other friends via email/whatsapp I was suddenly being pressured (in the kindest way possible) to GET IT CHECKED OUT. Because the threat of retina damage and vision loss is actually quite a real one. So I checked again with my GP this morning, and he agreed I should go to Emergency, so I hopped into a taxi and found myself once again at my least favourite place in Sevilla.

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the monitor

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Health, eh? We tend to take it for granted until something goes wrong. Which of course I learned big time back in 2008. These days I am much more cautious about thinking I am HEALTHY. Especially this year, having had 1 PET scan and 3 CT scans so far because they can’t figure out what that mysterious “cloud of inflammation” is and – so far – don’t want to cut me open to get a proper look.

Meanwhile, I have also developed a FLOATER in my right eye, similar to one I had about ten years ago. Same flashing lights, etc. My GP has requested an appointment with the eye specialist, but I am still waiting to have that confirmed. Likewise I am still waiting to hear when my next oncology appointment will be to get the results of the latest CT scan (taken 10 days ago). But one thing I do know! My blood pressure is perfect.

This surprises me, given that I am overweight and have had problems with tachycardia since I was in my mid-twenties. And so it also surprised me when skinny pal Peter’s @SVQconcierge recent medical check showed that his blood pressure was high enough to warrant daily medication and regular BP monitoring. This regular monitoring was getting to be a pain, so when Kate @sledpress recommended a wrist monitor that she uses I placed an order for it on Amazon. And well… immediately the readings were higher than those at the doctor’s (mine included!) but they will have to be taken over time, and in different situations, and then also at the doctor’s again.

My point is…. had I not been going in for various this and that anyhow, and if I hadn’t suggested that Peter get a check-up while I was there, then he wouldn’t have known about the blood pressure issue. And so boys and girls, if you haven’t had a full general check-up in the past couple of years… do it!

aperitif has arrived

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Back in June I mentioned my friend Kate Hawking’s @katehawkings new book Aperitif, which I put in my Amazon shopping basket, and then forgot it was there! Then the other day I was looking to order a blood pressure monitor for Peter (more on that later) and saw I had an item in my basket. Well heck!

And so here it is, and it’s a very nice book indeed. I love how Kate writes. It’s also the first time I’ve ever been mentioned in the acknowledgements, which is quite thrilling. Now I just need Kate to come back to Sevilla and sign this for me.

battle of the ribs

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I’ve only recently started playing with Instagram stories. I’ve never really understood the point of uploading content that disappears after 24 hours. But then I noticed that mostly people were uploading stuff to their stories that they also put in their regular feed, so I decided to try it. This one comes from the other day when Peter and I met up again with Claudia & Paul. They had previously been to Eslava and were disappointed (!!!) with their famous honey ribs, so we decided to go back with them. Then Claudia had said she’d seen fried rabbit ribs at La Azotea on my Instagram, and thus the Battle of the Ribs was born.

Here are screenshots of the “event” taken from Instagram stories. You can write on the photos, add emojis, gifs, etc, and you can also have people vote (or take surveys). In this case you can see that pork ribs were the clear winner. And yes, I know, I really ought to GET A LIFE.  😉
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