Our Italian Correspondent Checks In
I got a handwritten letter yesterday, complete with photos, from the friend of mine who is traveling in Italy. (Or maybe she's just hanging out in Italy, not moving from place to place, but anyway, she's there.)
It made me think about how rarely I receive real paper letters these days, especially those that are handwritten. A card now and again, sure, but a letter? When is the last time you received a letter?
Anyway, back to the topic, which is Benign Girl. This is the friend who wrote and told me she had spotted Benign Girl pink toy phones for sale in Italy. She sent the photos to prove it, and I took a photo of the photos with my digital.
She writes, from a hotel in Firenze (Florence):
... It was easier to set the scene than to get a proper shot of the Benign Girl cellphones--I've included one of them, slightly out of focus, just as proof.
It was at the organic food and crafts market held every third Sunday in Piazza Santo Spirito in Florence. The stallholders sell cheeses, olive oil, honey, aromatherapy oils and other wholesome and stylish things. On the edge of the official market, below the steps of the church, ... there was an itinerant vendor, at a guess I'd say Albanian, and there she was.
In the photo, the vendor is wearing a gray suit and is smiling proudly, and the Benign Girl gear is spread out on a blue tarp on the ground.
Who wants to go to Italy? My next-door neighbors, who are real foodies and grow wonderful vegetables, including lots of basil, from seed, seem to go every year. And they speak Italian. Sigh. Another language for me to learn--but it would be worth it.
Read more:
A Benign Girl Sighting in Italy!
@ Jeanne Sather 2008.
Hi, Jeanne. Though I’m now in London, this is your Italian correspondent checking in. Yes, I am the Olde Worlde person who still uses a film camera and handwrote that letter from Florence.
I’ve spent quite a lot of time in Italy as a tourist and studying the language, but this time I had my first up-close experience of their medical system, and I was very favourably impressed. My bone metastases, diagnosed nearly 3 years ago, were supposed to be under control with anti-oestrogen treatment when I left home for this latest trip, but the travel weariness after I arrived soon turned into persistent new aches—very worrying—and I went to see a GP in Florence. I’d been to her in the past for minor things and liked her a lot, and she knew about my breast cancer and metastases. I thought maybe my oestrogen level was rising as I’ve recently finished 2 years Zoladex. It wasn’t, and the GP gave me the name of an oncologist she said was “brava”: turned out to be the best I’ve come across so far. Before you call your travel agent, I should explain that, though my Italian is good, I could never have navigated through the unfamiliar system without the help of a wonderful friend in Florence. I was more inclined to turn around and go home at first, but with her support and a lot of cooperation from the doctors and coordinators, I ended up getting a thorough assessment. The problem seems to be a herniated disc. It’s not a progression of the spinal metastases, anyway. I’m bringing home some recommendations for my ongoing treatment which I hope can be translated to a different medical system.
There was one visit in particular that gave a whole new meaning to the term “medical tourism”. I was sent for an MRI to Santa Maria Nuova hospital, just round the corner from the cathedral with Brunelleschi’s famous dome. A plaque at the hospital entrance, under the porticoes of its very old façade, said it was founded in 1288 by Folco Portinari, the father of Dante’s Beatrice. The front wing dates from the early Renaissance—perhaps that’s when it acquired the word “new” in its name (“New Saint Mary’s”). Apart from its outer appearance, it’s a normal modern hospital.
I’ve been reading your blog since last summer, avidly at times, and the Benign Girl sighting finally did it: I just had to tell you. Sorry to put you to all that trouble with the photos. For my next trip I promise I’ll buy a digital camera.
Posted by: Primadonna | April 13, 2008 at 10:36 PM
Dear Primadonna--this is great! So glad that you were able to get good medical care in Italy and didn't have to cut the trip short. And I love the description of your "medical tourism" experience--give us more.
We have quite a few cancer patients traveling among our group of bloggers--Teri is going to the beach, and Laurie is going to London, and Debutaunt is coming here, to Seattle.
Posted by: jeanne | April 14, 2008 at 08:45 AM
Howling with laughter as I've read through some of your blog posts! I don't have the "PINK" disease myself...I have the ORANGE disease: Multiple Sclerosis. And I got a link to your site from one of my Hi Larry Us readers, who is raising money for the PINK TEAM...she found MY blog about MS because I frequently lament there about the PINK Marketers VS. the ORANGE Marketers! Those of us with MS naively WISH we had the marketing folks who have promoted Breast Cancer Awareness...to an extent, that is. PennyAnn (my BC reader) has graciously exchanged MS Awareness slogans for BC slogans with me...she came up with, "I walked for MS. I made it all the way to my front door", while I provided, "Think PINK...it's not just for gays anymore".
Nice to see there's someone ELSE out there from another "disease" who sarcastically thinks way too much money is being made off these illnesses!
Linda D. in Seattle
Posted by: Linda D. | May 06, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Linda--thanks for letting me know about this. I didn't know there was an orange disease, but now it will be on my radar and I'm sure I'll start noticing.
Love the line about walking all the way to the front door--humor is good, but it needs to be OUR humor, not that of some pink-ribbon cause marker--come to think of it, those folks are fairly humorless.
Pink slogan is great too.
Posted by: jeanne | May 06, 2008 at 11:31 AM