Tag Archives: hospitals

the chemo port

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by in cancer, hospitals, humour

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port (2)

This photo was taken in May 2009 showing off my brand new chemo port. I remember how happy I was that they fit me in for this procedure before I had to resume chemo. Memories of collapsed veins and painful arms and hands…

Today I went for my monthly port cleaning and, while nothing wrong with that, I’d hoped that by now they’d have taken the darn thing out already. When I joined the five year club in November it felt like onwards and upwards. But I’m still waiting to have this thing removed, and I also need to have a colonoscopy this month (the 23rd) before the oncologist decides on what my future monitoring will be. PET scans every year? Every 8 months? We shall see.

Anyhow, I got a taxi over to the hospital this morning (a luxury I allow myself as I really HATE going to the hospital, so at least I can go in style and hang the expense). I was running a bit late today, though I got there at 12.40 (port cleaning hour is between 12 and 1 o’clock) and suddenly there was Manolo standing in the doorway when I skidded to a stop, arms crossed, tapping one foot, giving me The Look. So I said “WHAT? I still have 20 minutes!!” and then Manolo broke into a huge smile and led me to The Chair.

The procedure only takes about five minutes, but sometimes the port doesn’t cooperate and then I worry about blood clots or the nurse pushing air into my veins (I do, seriously). My favourite nurses are Manolo and Macarena. The latter because she is totally no-nonsense and the former because he always makes me laugh. Plus they are skilled at doing this – trust me, when I get a newbie I am a nervous wreck. Anyhow, there was Manolo scolding me for coming at the last minute, and I told him he was going to miss me after they take the port out. “Who else is always going to remind you to take care of the air bubbles??” I asked him. At which point Manolo burst into song, apparently something from his native Córdoba about a difficult “niña” (who, me?) …. and then it was done.

Then another nurse poked her head around the corner and said “another port cleaning!”. And I said to Manolo – “HA! I was not the last one and I expect you to scold this other latecomer as much as you scolded me!” I even made sure. As I was walking out and the other woman was walking in, I turned to Manolo and gave him the hand slicing gesture, winked at the woman, and Manolo went into full Manolo mode saying “what do you mean showing up at this time? you always get here LATE!” and we were all laughing. So I ended up leaving and really hoping it was going to be my last port cleaning, but also knowing I was going to miss Manolo.

the 5 year club

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in cancer, change, friends, health & happiness, hope, hospitals

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pet tac

Today marked a very important milestone for me. I had my “5th anniversary” PET scan – which came back clear! – marking five cancer-free years (I finished my last chemo at the end of July 2009). I almost couldn’t believe it when Pilar texted me while I was out having coffee, saying that everything was okay. In fact, I burst into tears. This one is a game-changer. I won’t know exactly what they have in store for me now until I see the oncologist again next month, but today should be the last of the every-six-month PET scans (will switch to either once a year or possible every 10 months) and I will finally be able to get the chemo port out. That last one will be a relief and I won’t have to make my monthly visit to the hospital to get the thing cleaned out. So it’s all good.  I mean, I’m not “out of the woods” yet. The 5-year mark is kind of random and my case is more baffling than anything. Most stage-IV people don’t stay in remission for this long. But hey, I’ve made it this far and at least for now I am fine, so it really does feel like a fresh start.

As always I want to thank my amazing Nuclear Medicine team – Pilar and Isabel (Ricardo retired last year) – and also all of you for being there with me through all of this. You can all take the next year off.  😉

A side note: October 28th is the saint day of Santo Judas Tadeo (Jude the Apostle) patron saint of lost causes. Coincidence?

thought for the day

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by in hospitals, humour, sevilla, tapas

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unicornIt was that kind of day. Got up a wee bit later than usual after an extra-long Sevilla Tapas Tour last night (hey, it was a special birthday tour!). And then I faffed around on the laptop for awhile until it was time to go for my monthly chemo port cleaning. Which I always kind of dread – my monthly reminder that I’m not “out of the woods” yet. I usually treat myself by taking a taxi to the hospital and back, but lately I’ve been finding just getting into a taxi stressful as it usually ends up in some sort of argument after the driver attempts to rip me off. So today I took the bus and, although I HATE taking buses, I felt today like this was my own personal protest against thieving taxi drivers and that made it a bit better. Also, Peter came with me because we had decided to do a bit more research in Los Bermejales, a barrio not too far from the hospital.

Well, great timing *sarcasm*. Although not too far, it turned out that Los Bermejales also wasn’t all that close to the hospital. And it was 42º. But we finally made it to our destination – a typical barrio fish and seafood place – and enjoyed a few tapas. Then on the way to catch the bus home we passed another tapas bar I’d been following on Twitter and poked our heads in the door. And that’s when I saw these wonderful words of wisdom. So we decided to stay and have one more cold drink before heading back into town. All in all, a very pleasant day. How was your Tuesday?

all bundled up

17 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by in friends, health & happiness, holidays

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bundled up
After a very long night with very little sleep I got up this morning and went AAAAAAARRRGHH!!! as I gingerly placed my feet on the floor in an attempt to get out of bed. Holy crap. It hadn’t occurred to me that the PAIN from yesterday’s accident could actually get worse. Which was when I started getting scared. I mean, at least last time I had one leg to stand on! Also, the more I shuffled around on two tortuous feet I could feel that my back was starting to go wonky. And the very last thing I need is excruciating back pain added to all this. So around midday I finally took up my friend Juan’s very generous offer to pick me up and drive me to the hospital.

The X-rays showed that my left ankle had a small fracture (!!!) but upon closer inspection it turned out that it was from the first time I sprained it three years ago (!!!!). Seriously… what?? I was walking around on that sucker (with crutches) after a couple of days, even doing tapas tours. I had no idea it was broken because I didn’t go to hospital that time. So when I was told today that I need to stay in and rest my ankle for two weeks… well, I don’t see that happening. Yes, obviously like right now when putting any weight on it at all makes me want to cry, I’ll be avoiding doing that as much as possible. But I hope to be (gently) out and about again after the weekend. The right foot is also badly sprained (thankfully nothing is broken) and so I ended up getting bandaged up like this and sent home with prescriptions for Ibuprofen and Paracetemol. Coming home we ran into a Semana Santa procession and Juan had to let me off where I could normally get home in 3-4 minutes. About 20 very-very-very painful minutes later I finally got home again and I’ve been slobbing out on the sofa ever since.

I was telling Juan that yesterday on the way home Peter had said “let’s go this way” and I said “no, let’s go this way, it’s shorter”…. if I’d gone Peter’s way this never would’ve happened. And then Juan said that if he wasn’t taking me to the hospital he might have been killed in a car accident that afternoon. Point taken. But especially yesterday I kept wishing that I could REWIND and take the other way home. Though of course I might have have been run over by a beer delivery truck…

Life, eh? How’s your week going?

here I go again…

08 Tuesday Apr 2014

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

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petexam… PET scan time! By the time many of you read this I’ll probably already be in the machine, since I have to be there early, around 7.45. The plan is to get home in time to do my lunchtime Sevilla Tapas Tour, which was booked long before I knew my scan date. Peter is on “standby” in case I get bad news as I rather doubt I’ll be in the mood to be sociable if that happens. As you can tell, scanxiety is much the same as always. Hoping for the best, terrified that I might hear the worst, wishing I’d eaten more broccoli, had drunk less wine, etc, etc.

But if all goes well this might be my last every-six-months scan, although I don’t “officially” hit the five-year mark until the end of July. If I do “graduate” to once-a-year scans then I think they may also remove the chemo port, which would be a relief. But I’m getting way ahead of myself. I just want to be okay. I know that I’ve been incredibly lucky so far. Please, please, please let my luck hold out some more. I really want to watch Morcilla grow up.

Fingers crossed everybody!