Gran Canaria Holiday

One week went so fast, way too fast. Here is a summary of my holiday in Gran Canaria.

On Friday the 7:th of January I picked my mom up at 15:00 pm. I drove us to Sturup airport hotel in Malmö where we slept for a few hours.

Ready to go!

At 3:30 am on Saturday morning we got up to have breakfast. Our flight was at 7.00 am. We landed around lunchtime at Las Palmas airport and an hour later we were sat on the balcony of our hote at IFA beach hotel in San Agustin with a glass wine, enjoying the beautiful view. We ate lunch at Loopy´s restaurant. We have been going there since I was 9 years old and we went on our first holiday. It was funny because they still had the same staff, they must have been working there for over 20 years. Their calamares (octopus) salad is to die for, yumm! After late lunch we walked around the beach and checked that everything was the same as always. They have improved the gardens around San Agustin a lot and it is more palm trees and a lot cleaner than the years before. That is good.

The first glass of wine on the balcony.

Calamares at Loopy´s

On Sunday we went on a day trip to Las Palmas, to the market in Santa Catalina. It was not so nice weather because it was very cloudy and it was raining a bit so we only stayed about 2 hours and then we went back again to the south part of the island. It is always much nicer weather there. We ate a lovely tuna steak salad for lunch and then we walked around the beach. There is such a nice boardwalk along the coast to walk. In the evenings we always had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, same with breakfast because it is included. So it was only lunch we ate in a different place each day. The food at the hotel was pretty good, but because the main part guests were Germans the vegetables was boiled to death, haha.

The lovely walk area next to the beach
The market in Santa Catalina

On Monday we lay on the beach for a while, but it was quite windy so we lay by the pool instead. We did not do much this day. Just relaxing and reading books, played some cards and drank some wine. One word: HOLIDAY!

Getting some sun

On Tuesday we walk to Playa del Ingles and walked around to Nilo´s where I use to live before and down to Scandic where I use to work. I think we walked around for a good 3 hours. The weather was beautiful, not a single cloud in the sky. When we got back to the hotel I had a swim in the pool to cool me down. Nice.

On Wednesday we went in a bus trip around the island. We went to a few different places, Vecindario, Vallesco and to the rum factory in Arehucas and up in the mountains to see the breathtaking views etc.



On Thursday we lay by the pool. In the evening my mom and I went to Lena´s Internet café to watch the Swedish (old) celeb singer Göran Ringbom preform. I stayed about one hour then I met up with Nathalie, Gunilla and Nina. We ate a lovely dinner at El Gaucho restaurant. After dinner Nathalie and I went out for some drinks. First stop was Scandic were I saw Salva and Manu. I have not seen them in ages. I was hoping that I would also get to meet Lucia and Roberto, but they did not work there anymore and the place that Lucia was working at now where closed and Roberto had his day off from Ministry of Sound…typically. So Nathalie and I went to Grabbarna Grus for a shot and then to “old Hippodrome” it has got a new name now…Nordic Company or something? There I met Paco and Yassin. Then we went to see Victor in Relax pub and then Chris at Saloon bar. It was so nice to see them again. I got back to the hotel around 5 am in the morning, hehe.

My mom and I at Lenas café
Dinner at el Gaucho

On Friday I had hangover brunch around 13 pm at the lovely restaurant Balkon. Garlic Prawns and beer, so nice. My mom and I had a swim in the ocean after, the waves were massive and it was a lot of fun. Saltwater is good for your skin, it felt like I was at a spa.

Hangover cure

On Saturday I took the transfer bus around 10 am to go to the airport. My mom is staying another week so I traveled alone. My flight was at 12.35 am, I got to Malmö at 18.35. I drove home in the fog and icy roads and got back to Mike and the cats around 23 am.

I had a fantastic holiday!






Yesterday I started back to school again. We had an introduction meeting and today I am going to meet my new study group.
I have caught the singles (bältros) so I have red dots all around my stomage/back and it hurts quite a bit actually inside my body. I also have a bit of a fever and a terrible headache. I feel like staying at home today but I don’t want to miss anything in school so I will have to go there anyway.

Im off to Gran Canaria!

Yesterday I made dinner and we invited our new tenants Mattias and Emma, and also Annie. It was a nice evening.


Ozzy, the dog.
Today Mike and have been in Lindås to celebrate Erika´s 30: th birthday. We are “Sandwich cake” and also normal cake and coffee. It was nice to see the family again.




Tomorrow my mom and I are driving to Malmö. We are flying to Gran Canaria really early on Saturday morning (7.00 am) so we are sleeping at a hotel in Malmö tonight instead of having to drive in the middle of the night. Now I am off to pick her up at three o ´clock.
I probably won´t update my blog until I come back home again. Perhaps on the 16:th of January.
Now I will have a relaxing week in the sunshine, it is going to be so, so nice!

Happy New Year!

On New Year´s Eve Ida and Martin came over to us. We made dinner together and played some cards. We fired rockets and drank lots of champagne. It was a good night.




Atlas and Speedy joined us at the table


On New Year´s Day we did not do much, it was a hangover day.

On Sunday I got up at 9 am and went skiing. It feels great to do some exercise.
In the evening I went with my cousin Erika, her mom and my dad and Karin to Kalmar to go to the cinema. We saw “Änglagård 3” it was ok. ¨




Yesterday I did not do anything special. I just cleaned the house and unpacked a few more boxes. Now it is only a few more days until my mom and I are going on holiday. I can´t wait.

Today I have been to Flygsfors at my dad and Karin´s. I watched Eastenders there because our TV is still “being transferred” by Telia. I was in town for a while and had a bath at my mom´s.
In the evening we went over to our tenants Mattias and Emma to have a look at how nice they have got after moving in.

Christmas time

On Wednesday we spent our last day at Växjövägen 11. Michael´s friend Bijan came to help us move a lot of the stuff in the evening.

On Thursday we moved more stuff (almost everything) and cleaned the house out a bit. In the evening I made pork fillet dinner and we spent the first night in our “new” house. We decorated the Christmas tree and watched a film. There is no Internet or TV in the house yet.


On Christmas Eve we went to my mom´s house for Christmas dinner nr 1 at 14.00 – 17.00 pm and after that we went to my dad´s house for Christmas dinner nr 2 at 17.30 – 20.30 pm. I don’t think I have ever been that full after all that food. It is the same every year. How am I supposed to lose any weight?

At my moms
In Flygsfors with dad and Karin

On Christmas Day we had a small party at our house. Carl and some other friends of Michael came to play poker and drink. I played too (no win, no loose) and Annie came over later. Because we live in Örsjö and there are no busses on a day like today when everyone is drinking, everyone had to sleep over. It’s a good thing we have two guest bedrooms and a big sofa.

Carl, Kristoffer, Mike and John
As you can see on the picture I cut my hair off a while ago. It was just a mess. It actually feels quite nice this short. I like it.
On Boxing Day morning I found out some great news! I will tell you about that all a bit later. At 12.30 pm I picked up Maria in Persmåla and Susanne in Västrakulla. We went to Kalmar to do some shopping at the sales. We ate sushi for lunch and had a great time even though I had a bit of a hangover. I came back to the house around 18.00 pm with some pizza for the even more hangover boys that had just woken up. By 21.45 I was in bed fast asleep.

On Monday I did a lot of unpacking. I went to the local clinic because I have got another urine infection. When Mike got back from work we moved the last things from the other house because the new tenant (her name is Susanne) wanted to start moving in her things.
It feels great to live in this house again. The fireplace is just brilliant now in the winter. The cats love it too.


On Tuesday I did nothing special. I watched 5 films and went for a short walk. I am very upset with Telia because they promised that we would get our internet and TV back yesterday but now they are saying that it won´t be connected until the 10:th of January. That is crazy, it is just too long time to wait I think.

Yesterday I went to my see my dad in Flygsfors. I watched Eastenders there and we had some coffee and cakes. I used the Internet and I borrowed a TV-box so that we at least can watch channel 1, 2 and 4, but when I got home it did not work. I believe it is because the tenants that lived in the house before us had a satellite dish installed and that might had disconnected the normal antenna on the roof, so we just have to stick to watching dvds until the 10:th of January.
In the afternoon Mike and I went to Kalmar to buy a new washing machine. They have really cheap deals at Media Markt now. We got a brand new one for only 1990 sek. Mike also bought me a new pair of shoes. Timberland Goretex winter walking shoes, they are so nice. I picked up my new passport from the police station as well. I look horrible on the picture, I really hate it. I might get another one done later.
After being to Kalmar I went to see Ida for a while before I went home. I spent most of the evening and night watching old episodes of Sex and the City. You can never watch it too many times.

Today I picked up Ida from her work and we did the shopping for tomorrow night. We bought food, alcohol, fireworks and of course I bought a cigar. I always “smoke” a cigar on New Year’s Eve. Well “munpuff” (no inhaling) anyway. We played some cards and had some coffee, and then I went to see Linn and Marcus. I got to borrow their wireless internet so now at least we have internet in the house and I can finally update my blog. Excellent!

Moving time

Today is the last day that we will spend in this house at Växjövägen 11. Tomorrow we will move in to our old house that we lived in in 2008. It is a smaller house and it is lovely. I will put pictures up later.
So all day today will consist of packing and packing and some more packing. I hope I will have enough boxes. I do not want to go outside at all today because it is -18C at the moment. Freeezing cold…

Yesterday I went to Lindås to see Erika and family. I got some Christmas gifts for the kids. In the afternoon I went to Annie to have some coffee and play some cards. I also had a bath at my moms and later I saw Ida for some more coffee and card game.
On Monday I dumped all the stuff that I was giving to the second hand shop away. It went to RIA. I gave away about 7 boxes with clothes and things. Later I phones up all the companies that deals with water, electricity, and rubbish bills etc. Everything needs to be changed around because we have new tenants in both houses.

On Sunday I spend the day packing and watching films. We also had to do a lot of snow shoveling.

On Saturday evening I went to Ida´s to drink (listen, coffee! No wine ) Linn was there too and we had a nice time. When I got home we saw the film “Resident Evil – afterlife” It was strange, I don’t really like films like that.
Now I will to watch Eastenders and then it is back to packing the last boxes.

Cats in snow

"It is cold, but we love it"
"Shall we go out or not?"
It is Saturday morning and the cats have been out in the snow. Wilda has never seen snow before so she was all exited and started to trample up and down in the white “fluff”, she was so cute.

Carl and Tomi are here today as well to help out renovating the other house.
I am making a really nice dinner for them today, (nötytterfilé) beef tenderloin with mash and vegetables.

Yesterday I was still sore in my lower back from where they did the test and I also felt a bit tired, I had a bit of a fever in the afternoon too. So I stayed indoors the whole day in front of the computer and TV. It is really getting to me now not to have anything to do. Well, I can pack and clean and see my friends etc, but I mean that it is boring not to have a job or to do some studying. It will be good when I start school again in January.

Here is where they took the test
On Thursday Emmy came to see me. We had some lunch and coffee/cake together and we took her dog Leona out for a walk in the snow around Örsjö. Then in the evening I continued clearing out stuff in the basement, it is a never ending job. I keep finding stuff that I can throw away. The less stuff we have to move from one place to another the better!

Another bone marrow test

Yesterday I did my second bone marrow test. I had to do another test because the doctors wanted to compare the results to the one they did before the treatments started because in that first test they saw that something was a bit strange with the … cells, I cannot remember what they were called. Hopefully this time everything will show up as normal. The chemotherapy has probably sorted whatever was wrong before out.
My friend Annie came with me to hold my hand. I got a sedative tablet before so I could relax a bit (stesolid) but they only gave me 5mg so I could not feel anything. The test went fine and it did not hurt as bad as last time. It still hurts though, but only for a few seconds so it is ok. Annie drove me home to Örsjö and in the afternoon Carl came over to help Mike with the renovation of the house. I packed a few more boxes and had myself a glass of red wine.

Today I have no plans. I wanted to go out skiing, but my back is sore from the test yesterday. Now I am downloading some films from the internet that I will watch tonight I think. Carl is coming over later to do some more work and I will probably pack some more things. I phoned Telia today to organize the tv/internet etc to be moved to the new house, unfortunately they cannot do it until the 28/12 and we move on the 23/12…but it is Christmas so there is other things to do than to watch TV I guess, for example unpacking all the boxes after the move.

Sound of music

On Friday Mike and I went to Kalmar in the morning to buy a new cooker. We got a Cylinda convection oven that we put into Klaravägen (the house we are going to move back to on the 22:nd of Dec) so now we have a brand new washing machine and a cooker for when we move in, great!
In the evening I made cottage pie for dinner and we watched a bit of the Nobel dinner show and a bit of the final of “Idol” on TV.

On Saturday Erika, Anita, Marianne, Karin and I went to Växjö and saw the musical “Sound of Music”. After the show we ate a three-course meal. We had a great time.





Yesterday I went to Kalmar to visit Ida.A. She had made us dinner and we watched a film, “Beck – buried alive”. It was a really nice evening.

Today it is “Lucia”. I got up at 7.00 am to watch the show on TV. I lit some candles and ate a “Lussekatt”. It is so beautiful and nice to hear the songs. It reminds me of when I use to sing them when I was doing the shows for “Nybro Lucia” back in 1999.

Time to do what I want

On Monday evening Annie came over for some coffee and cake. She brought me 10 great boxes for moving. Brilliant, now I can continue to pack the rest of all the things in the house.

It is going to be so nice to move to a smaller house that is not so close to another one.
At the moment Mike and his new tenants are fixing up the house next to us.
It was in such a horrific state after the other neighbors had moved out so it needs a proper clean out, the walls needs painting and wallpapering etc.
We have to get a new washing machine and a new cooker in because the tenants before have destroyed it. We also have to put new floors in because they have been destroyed as well. It is such a mess.
The police have got involved in this so it will probably be a court case about it because the old tenants refuse to replace or pay for any of the damages.

I don’t understand how you can treat a house that is not yours with such disrespect or how you can live in such a horrific mess, it is just disgusting. I was nearly sick when I saw the state of the cooker and the fridge after they have moved out. The smell was awful.
It really makes me angry when people destroy things and property that is not theirs, and then they do not take any responsibility for it whatsoever. It is sad when people lose the grip of reality or perhaps don’t even know how reality works…

On Tuesday afternoon I went to Lindås to first visit my cousin Erika and her family and then visit Emmy. At Erika´s we built a gingerbread house together. It looked really good, I just wanted to eat it.

Emmy and I were sat taking at her place eating “lussekatter”and we also went for a walk in the snow. Time flew by. She is now pregnant in week 28 and she looks so beautiful.

On Wednesday I was out skiing in the morning for about 50 minutes.
After lunch and watching Eastenders, I went to see Ida for a few hours in the afternoon.

Today I have no plans whatsoever. I will go out skiing soon and later I might wrap some Christmas gifts and continue some packing.

It is great to have time off and the energy now in December to just relax and do exactly what I want. I have time to read a book or go and see my friends etc. I have no stress with work, hospital, studying or nothing. I am really enjoying this, but it will probably be the only time in my lift to do it. Later in life there might be work, family and other things to deal with.

Tomorrow we are going to Kalmar to buy a new cooker and I will get my new passport. I need it for the holiday! The countdown has begun, in exactly one month my mom and I will be at Gran Canaria :)

Skiing again :)

On Friday evening Linn, Sofie and I went to Veronica´s place to play some cards and drink some wine. It was so nice.




On Saturday I was just chilling at home. I had a bath at my moms and when I came home I made "julbord" (Swedish Christmas food) for dinner.

On Sunday my mom came over for 2:ond Advent coffee. I made a cake because Mike had his birthday on Monday.





In the evening Mike and I drove to Orrefors and had dinner at the thai restaurant at the hotel. We ate buffé and it was so nice. After that we drove to Kalmar and went to the cinema. We saw "Due Date", it was very funny.

Today I have been out skiing in the woods. I was skiing on Thursday as well. I really have to start exercising now to get back in shape after being sick.
I need my muscles to come back and I need to loose the weight that I gained during eating the cortisone. I want to look good for when I get to Gran Canaria and I only have a month left....hopefully I will manage to loose a kilo or two before then. I have nothing planned now for a whole month so I have plenty of time on my hands to exercise.

I am finished with the treatments

I am finished with the treatments!!!!
It feels great, but also a bit scary. Now there is nothing else I can do…has it worked? Am I cancer free or not? I won´t find out until the middle of January when they are going to send me up to Linköping again to do a PET-scan.

I was at Kalmar hospital on Wednesday to do another spirometers test to check the lungs. It was fine. I can now finally cut down on the cortisone tablets. I have gained a lot of weight because of them stupid tablets. I use to weigh 63kg. Now I am 71kg…I bought a scale in Kalmar yesterday. I really should not have done that, it just made me depressed.

This is how the spirometer machine looks like.

I am back to my old self again now. I still have some pain in my throat but I got some medicine called “Andapsin” for it. It is a lot better now. The only troubles I have now is with my legs. I still get that horrific pain in my legs, feet, knees and back sometimes. The doctors said that it could be that the chemotherapy has affected the nerves. It should go away by itself but it can take a long time. It gets worse if I drink alcohol so I have to be careful with that. Great…now when it is Christmas…

My last day in Linköping was on Tuesday. I met up with Christel on Monday evening. We had some food together and talked about good old times in GC. She had brought some more photos with her and we has such a nice time. Over 3 hours just flew by. I am really looking forward to my holiday to GC now.

I had a meeting with my Doctor in Linköping on Monday. He just said that everything has gone to plan, but they cannot see anything on the X-ray pictures about how much of the cancer that has gone. The tumors will keep shrinking for another 4 weeks and then I have to do a PET-scan. When you do a normal scan, like a CT-scan they can only see the size of the tumor, not if it is dead or alive. So even if the PET-scan shows that the tumors are still in my body, they can be dead.
I don’t like this waiting. Meanwhile I have to redo the bone marrow test in about 2 weeks. I am not looking forward to that. I have arranged so that I can get a sedative tablet beforehand. Not that it will take any of the pain away, but it might calm me down a bit and when you are relaxed it might not feel as bad? Let´s find out anyway.

Here are some pictures from my last walk between the hostel and the hospital in Linköping.






One of the entrances to the hospital
The coffee shop area where I have been spending a lot of time waiting