health

Donate blood (if you can), you have enough to share!

/ antonioyrocinante / Leave a comment

For years I was not able to donate blood, as I had lived in England during the Mad Cow epidemic (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease if you want to get technical) in the 80s -yes, I am an 80s kid.

This was very frustrating since the health community really did not have enough data and evidence for not allowing people to donate blood, but recently they changed the rule, and we can donate blood again!

Donating blood in Florida is a bit different -yes, Florida is special, and not necessarily in a good way. They have these red busses that go around collecting blood. A couple of times a year they go to our school.

So if your health allows you to do it, find the time to donate blood wherever you might be, someone you will never meet will really appreciate it!

Oh, just make sure that half an hour after you donate you do not go running in 30º humid Florida heat. Someone I know really regretted it and had to walk back a few kilometers…

Gentlemen; get your check up.

/ antonioyrocinante / Leave a comment

Gentlemen, when was the last time you had a check up?

For me it had been a couple of years. I am not a fan of the American health care system (what system?), so I kept postponing my check up until I could do it for “free” in Spain.

I like to think that I take care of myself; try to eat healthy, do some sort of exercise almost every day, all that stuff, so I was not expecting any surprises…

But my blood test told a different story: my PSA level was a bit higher than it should be for my age group.

The PSA is the level that points to your prostate health. I had to find a urologist who then did two different tests, then an MRI scan, and eventually a biopsy. Needless to say, it is all a bit stressful.

Fortunately, the final results came in all clean, but we do have to keep an eye on my numbers with yearly check ups.

Of course, the scary bit is the word Cancer. So if you want to avoid the stress of having that word keeping you up at night, get your check up. You are welcome.