Big Morning Tea on a Big Sky Day

Biggest Morning Tea/Mad Hatters Tea Party event

This morning some of the Robertson folks associated with the Robertson Heritage Railway Society and the Fettlers' Shed Art Gallery got together for a very small, but very pleasant instance of the Australia's Biggest Morning Tea.Even Lena (the scruffy Schnauzer) got into the party, looking for scraps of sandwiches and Fairy Bread to finish off.
Those of you who know me, know I wear a mad hat most of the time, to cover my lousy regrowth of hair, following two rounds of extreme chemotherapy treatment. I am doing fine, and happy to say so.

I have assisted Penny Levett in putting together the photographs and some information on weird local fungi - which Penny wanted to include as part of the Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatters Tea Party theme of her latest exhibition at the Fettlers' Shed.

So I figure I qualify to be involved in this event on just about every basis possible (except I am not a Cheshire Cat).

My personal award for the Maddest Hat goes to Lynn, who unfortunately turned up just as I was leaving. I was too shy to ask if I could photograph her wonderful hat - a tall piece of fabulous quilted material, in bright colours. Her "Mad Hat" made her stand out from the (small) crowd. Her hat might have excelled, even at a Melbourne Cup crowd.

*****

After the event, I went home, and took some wide angle photos with a new Sigma Lens which I have bought from Alan at Fletchers Fotographics at Mittagong. The lens is an 18 - 200mm zoom.
It gives me far greater width of view than I had before, with the standard Nikkor 35 - 80 lens I had before, which was carried over from my previous Nikon SLR (film) camera. From a rough comparison of equivalent shots, I calculate that the new lens gives me about 30% wider view than the old lens (a technical person could tell me precisely, just from the mathematics of lenses). Sure, the old lens makes the image appear "closer", but if I want to get closer, I now have far greater flexibility of zoom than I did before (200 mm compared to the 80 mm).Following the last few weeks of hectic activity, in preparing seemingly endless "objections" to the SCA's Environment Assessment on the Upper Nepean (Kangaloon Aquifer) Borefield proposal, which has been on public exhibition for the last month, I decided that I needed some "retail therapy". So I took myself off to my local Fletchers Fotographics Shop, in Mittagong. Alan looked after me very well, and even tried to tempt me with some wonderful long lenses (a huge "Prime" 500mm lens, and a 200 - 500 zoom lens), which would have been great for photographing birds. Alas, that was not to be - not at this stage, anyway.

However, I did look at some more modestly priced lenses. It came down to three different 18 - 200 lenses - a choice between a very nice Nikon Image Stabilised Lens (pricey, but very sweet) and a Tamron and the Sigma which I eventually chose. Alan took a series of comparable images (out the door of the shop), and then printed the images so that I could choose the one I preferred. There were subtle differences in the way the blue light in the sky and clouds were presented, and in one lens, the bright patch of sunlight on the road was accentuated, in away I did not like.

As I have a "Big Sky" view out my back door, and it is my favourite subject for photographing, I decided to choose the Sigma, for I preferred the way it captured the intensity of the blue in the sky and the details of the clouds.

The upper photograph is taken with the new Sigma 18-200 mm lens. The lower photo is with the old Nikkor lens. Both are nice, but I like the flexibility of the new lens (going from a far wider image to a much greater zoom than on the old basic lens). And, importantly, I like the way it feels and operates. Very "clean" feel, and very reliable.

Thanks to Alan for his patience with the slowest customer in the shop. At least I knew I was not in a hurry, and allowed Alan to get on with serving the other people who knew exactly what they wanted.

Back from Canberra

I am back from Canberra, having spent Friday sitting in one of the big chairs in ward 14A (the Chemo Ward - day patients area), getting pumped full of Mabthera (Rutuximab).

Nothing too scary happened, but I did get itchy ears! I KNOW IT SOUNDS CRAZY, AND TRIVIAL, BUT I HAVE LEARNT THAT NOTHING IS TRIVIAL WHEN IT COMES TO DRUGS LIKE THESE.

Once I mentioned to a nurse that I was having trouble doing up my shirt buttons ( and straight away she said, "Oh, we have to tell the doctors. You have Peripheral Neuropothy***"). Sure enough, she was right, and they changed one of the Chemo drugs, and now 18 months later, the soles of my feet are still partially numb. So, it is just as well I spoke up, and just as well the nurse knew her stuff, or I could have had more serious, more permanent damage.

So, when I notice my ears (and the back of my throat) go itchy, 20 minutes after starting a drip of a dangerous chemical, I tell them! Point is, to me it is an itchy ear. To them it might be the start of a serious allergic reaction. And who knows what that could lead to?

As I said, nothing serious happened, but I still leave nothing to chance, when participating in these kinds of procedures.
They backed off the drug, consulted a Doctor, who gave me some Hydrocortisone (to dampen down the allergic reactions) and resumed the delivery of the drug at a slower rate than before. My body temperature regulation system played up for a few hours - with me shivering, then getting hot. As a result I was wrung out by the end of the day, but I survived the process.

Hopefully the Mabthera Maintenance Program will help knock off any traces of Lymphoma which might be lurking in my system.

*** Peripheral Neuropathy is a form of paralysis of the nerves in the tips of your main joints - hence finger tips and toes. Although it started as funny tingles, and a slight clumsiness in my fine motor skills with my fingers, it has lead to slight damage to the nerves in my feet. That could have resulted in loss of control of my feet, which could easily impact on my ability to walk. So, small sysmpoms, if left un-reported, could lead on to major damage (as the treatment by that particular drug ("Vincristine") would have continued for weeks or months more, if I had not made that innocent comment. That is the point of this story.

Speak up, and let the experts know what is happening inside your body. It is your body, and they don't know unless you tell them. Patients' rights start with you - the individual patient.

News from Denis, via Zoe.

Hi all, it's Zoe here. Denis has asked me to do his blogging for him. He spent a large part of yesterday writing out the blog instructions (4 pages of them) and his blog entry for me. Something to keep him from going mad with boredom, as he is still feeling quite well.

Anyway, here's Denis:-

........
Yesterday the Howard government killed off the last dream of the Whitlam government - Medibank.

Of course it has changed over the years, and Medicare has partly replaced the original idea. But the "fear and loathing" school of politicians, who have made the decision, reveal themselves as shallow reactionaries with long memories.

Except, they can't abandon those memories when it comes to introducing a national "identity card" - albeit under a new name. Where is Peter Reith now? a footnote in history.

I shall have to cease listening to the news.

I am now on a "rest day" between the last of the chemotherapy treatments, and the "stem cell" re-transplant. This is the return to me of my own "stem cells" harvested from bone marrow last year - so it's called an "autologous transplant" - meaning back to the "same place".

So far I am feeling fine. Eventually this will change (for a while). But so far, so good. That's all I can say for now.

Love to all.

P.S. Missing Robertson

Denis
............

Zoe here again. Dad had his transplant today. It was an easy procedure, it took about 30 minutes. He has been moved to the High Dependancy Unit of the cancer ward. But he is still feeling ok(ish). A bit queezy and tired, but mainy bored and I think slightly apprehensious. The nursing staff in ward 14B are all wonderful, and he amususes himself by being cheeky to them all day long.
Denis and I will be in touch again soon.
Love Zoe.

The Tooth Fairy and Denis.

The Tooth Fairy visited Denis, yesterday, and gave him a holiday. It happened like this:

Once upon a time, Denis was about to have some nasty old chemicals pumped into his body. But the Tooth Fairy decided that he needed to be more relaxed before that happened. So she made his silly old tooth ache, just before he visited the nice nurse, Liz, in the Hospital. She said: "Goodness, what a nasty old tooth you have - Why not have the Dentist take a look at it?" The Dentist said - "What a nasty old tooth you have - Why not let me take it out, and give it to the Tooth Fairy, who needs it to make some Baby Piano keys." (That was after the nice Dentist had given Denis some funny stuff in his mouth, to make his mouth feel all happy, of course.) Naturally, Denis could not resist such a charming request from the Tooth Fairy.

After that happened, Nurse Liz said: "Goodness, what a great big hole you have in your jaw, now. The Doctors won't be able to give you the nasty old Chemicals till that has healed over."

And so it came to pass that Denis ended up having a totally unplanned trip to the Coast.

Love to Grow - Grow to Love

To my friends in Robertson (specifically) I am going to receive further Chemotherapy treatment. Consequently, my ability to continue posting these blogs will be interrupted, temporarily.

However, I shall be back!

*****

Zoe will be coming and going between Robertson and the hospital. She will also be checking my email box for me. peonyden@bigpond.com

Phone calls will be welcomed - via my mobile number - 0413 056 431. If I cannot answer at the time, please leave a message on the voicemail.

Meanwhile, please bear in mind my personal Motto:

Love to Grow: Grow to Love

Rest assured, it is engraved on my heart.

Mottos of Life and death

Well, there are lots of slogans which appear appropriate to my personal situation at present. For a brief period, Was tempted to adopt the Nike slogan: "Just Do It!"

For purely personal reasons, and not out of fear of impending lawsuits from the "suits" at Nike, I have decided to stick with my own personal motto:

"Love to Grow: Grow to Love"

On Thursday I was told that my Tumour has not been totally killed by last year's Chemotherapy. I could "wait and see", or I can opt for the aggressive Chemotherapy treatment, the so-called "Industrial Strength Chemo". I have decided to do that, rather than allow the Lymphoma any chance to build its strength back up. I am feeling fit enough to face that course of treatment at present.

It will be short and sharp, with 8 consecutive days of treatment, followed by re-implantation (via a process analogous to a blood transfusion) of the stem cells which were harvested from my blood, late last year.

I know I shall get sick in the process, but if it is as brief as they say, I will be glad to get it over with. So, it is myself I am wanting to "grow", not my tumour.

On Saturday afternoon, my Mother, Nonie Wilson, died peacefully, at a nursing home in Canberra, with her husband, Steve close by her side. They both moved into a Nursing Home late last year, when Mum's condition deteriorated. In fact she had been hospitialised for a while, made a minor recovery, but she was at a stage when no amount of "home care" could provide for her needs. Hence the Nursing Home.

Mum will be buried on Thurday morning, following a Requiem Mass at St Thomas the Apostle Church, Boddington Crescent, Kambah, ACT.

My parents were married for 67 years. Pretty amazing. They were totally loyal to each other throughout their long life together - through good times and bad, in sickness and in health.

She Loved to grow: She grew to Love.