campaigning, slowly

My election campaign is off to a slow start... I asked Aeglira (my Communications Officer) to start a blog(*). Unfortunately... she knows very little about the Warren-Blackwood District.

Still, she has set me up for a "meet the candidates" meeting. Candidates from the three major parties -- and me -- each to give a three-minute speech followed by Q&A. Three minutes?! How can I keep myself down to just three minutes!

So if anyone wants to get up close to a politician (plus three wannabes) -- join me in Mt Barker at 5pm on Thursday 25th. Should be fun... or embarrassing :-)

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Meanwhile, I have no time to think about health, which is good. Anyway, I'm still fit (ha!) and healthy :-)

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(*) The blog is called VoteNick[1] and the address is https://votenick1.blogspot.com/

Which proves to be a very poor choice of address... I can put that exact address into a search -- and it is not found. Perhaps I am one of those Australian news sites that have been unfriended by social media :-?

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

is there a lesson?

Usually, I wait till Deb is with me before I enter us for the weekend orienteering event. This week I tackle it all by myself...

When I tell Deb she says, You should have entered a different course. She's right, of course. So I change our entries.

There's a lesson in there somewhere. I just can't see it :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

keeping occupied

I have two things which take a lot of my time. Two things as well as reading and playing WoW, that is.

First... my app.

Vote Nick [1]

Yes, I wrote a working version of the core of the program. What I wanted was some wrap-around code to identify users, plus code that did not crash whenever the wind changed.

So the paid "developers" ignored my screen-by-screen dump from my own program. Without asking me any questions they sketched out something which was ridiculously unrelated to what I want.

Now I am "writing" my app in Powerpoint, the Salesman's Friend. Yes, this app works... in Powerpoint :-)  Well, it will "work". I'm doing what a real developer should do: creating a prototype then using that to refine what the app should do.

Vote Nick [1] on March 13

My "ppt app" will be good for the current crowd -- or for someone else who knows how to write apps.

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Meanwhile: There's a local version of the HEMP party, called Legalise Cannabis WA. And -- you guessed it -- I put up my hand.

Vote Nick [1] in Warren-Blackwood

First, they have enough candidates. (Deb heaves a sigh of relief.) Then they need more. So -- (Deb groans) -- on March 13th I will be on the ballot paper for... the Legislative Assembly in the district of Warren-Blackwood.

Supporting the legalisation of cannabis, which I think is sensible, if only to simplify drug management. And putting forward any great ideas that come to me... For example:

Whatever any other party offers, I offer 10% more. Or less, if that sounds better.

For a free-thinking politician Vote Nick [1]

But don't worry. I won't turn this blog into a platform for my political pork-barrelling.

Nick [1] for 10% more. Or less

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

doctor and dentist

Today I visit the GP. (It seems traditional to say, "my GP". It's always the same GP but I don't own her.) I'm there to say hello, as much as anything. It's good to talk with a doctor who has an interest in more than cancer.

First, we look at the report on my ... no, I've already forgotten the word. (A subconscious but deliberate forgetting, I suspect.) Aha! Penile biopsy! Now I'll try to forget it again.

On the phone the dick doc had told me, (a) it's not cancer. (b) Some experts think it could possibly be [some technical medical jargon]. The dick doc says if it were that then (I paraphrase) I would have a host of pustulating buboes. None of them, so, probably not that.

Today the GP reads the report. Doesn't say much, does it? she comments. But, having guessed at a set of multiple initials, it seems to be inflammation of unknown origin. (Idiopathic. ie Nobody knows.) If it gets worse, she says, We'll try some more steroid cream.

I'm not an easy patient. I don't believe in having obvious symptoms which can lead to a clear diagnosis :-)

What about my shaky hands? I ask. I support this with a reference to Blazing Saddles. The GP asks a few questions. Gets me to tap my finger here, there, somewhere else. Not Parkinson's, then, she says. Don't worry unless it gets worse, she says.

Every disease I have is, Don't worry unless it gets worse. Which is fine by me.

My main reason for this visit is, to tell the GP that she's a great doctor. It worries her when I joke about dying. She thinks I could hate her for not diagnosing my brain cancer. (Really.) I had been in to have my heart checked, I had no symptoms of anything, especially not of a brain tumour.

I tell her that she's a great doctor. That visiting her is good value for me. All is good. Then because it's been a while since the last... she sends me to have a blood sample taken. Sheesh!

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Later in the day I go to the dentist. I was due for a tooth clean. Instead, I'm here because a tooth snapped off. When I say "tooth" I mean, a crown on a blob of amalgam on the remaining base of a tooth. It's no trouble, I've been eating on the stump.

The dentist smooths the stump and tops it with a smooth surface of putty (or something). The alternative is... much more complicated. I'm happy.

Best of all: The dentist says, see you in another six months... forgetting that I was going to have a clean and polish. So ha! a bonus :-)

Anyway, I claim that my teeth are a lot cleaner than they were a few years back. I've finally developed a tooth-cleaning process that works, largely by ignoring the advice of dentists. On a previous visit the dentist was surprised by how clean my teeth were. So, another ha!

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Meanwhile, I'm staying cheerful by keeping busy. Busy at things I enjoy, that is, otherwise it's just work. Not cancer-related but I'll blog them anyway. In a separate post...

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

The things we do!

The things we do, Deb says, To avoid wearing a mask in public.

It's Saturday, it's raining, we're going orienteering -- which counts as "vigorous" exercise, so no need for masks. Of course we'd be going orienteering anyway, rain or shine, masks or not.

And the masks are on for everything except the running. Which, for me, is 75 minutes. Good fun, in the maze that is Claisebrook.

Then it's Sunday, it's raining again, we're running again.

Sunday is a 90 minute run, we like to run on bush trails. We look at the bushfires... one favourite is burnt. We look at the weather -- rain and more rain -- and think, Kings Park is far enough away. More rain watching... we run in the nearest park with enough tracks to fill 90 minutes.

It's just rain, we enjoy the run. And it's "vigorous" -- so no need to wear a mask. The rules are almost sensible :-)

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A couple of weeks ago, my back and shoulders ached. It comes of a life spent sitting at a PC or sitting with a book. So I'm back to doing some light exercise: moving dumbbells round for an hour, a couple of times a week. No more aching shoulders. Just tired muscles.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

Naaahh! It's all good :-)

My last post, I'm not sure whether my scan results are good... or not. Naaahhh... it's definitely good :-)

Something shows up on the brain. It was not there on the previous scan but it was there on the scan before that. If it's a tumour -- it's an unusual one that comes and goes. Which is fine, if it goes again. If it's radiation damage or a cockroach -- that's fine, no worries.

So the odds are -- no worries. The next scan -- in six weeks -- will tell more. Till then and possibly after -- it's all good :-)

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You know what my first thought is, when this scan shows... well... that I'm good for at least six more weeks? I thought, Bother, all those things that I should do before I die... I have another six weeks in which I should do them. Oh, the guilt... for not doing them. Sigh.

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I'm told that someone is surprised that our family communication is driven by emails. Rather than by face-to-face conversation. I think this applies to medical updates via blog. Hmmm.

Posting to this blog is good for me. Other people can keep up-to-date -- if they want to -- whether they see me or not. When family meets face-to-face they already (can) know the current health situation. So conversation can cover far more interesting topics :-)

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So if you don't read the blog -- and meet me face-to-face -- how do you politely ask how I am? One man has the perfect approach:

We are walking the last few km of a trail run. He has been helping on the trail and is walking back, I am supposed to be still running. We chat a bit, ask each other how we are, Fine, I say.

"Aren't you supposed to have a terminal illness or something?" he asks. "Oh yes but now I'm fine, till it comes back to kill me," I reply.

Topic covered, update provided, back to general conversation. Till his walking is faster than mine and I drop slowly behind.

If you want to know, just ask. If I want to tell you, I will. Easy :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)

scan results: good-ish

This morning, we get inside info on my latest scan. Deep Scan (I'll call our informer) says that there is a dark spot. But... it may not be all that bad. The new spot is away from the original tumour site and on the path that would have been zapped by radiation treatment.

Which means that it could be another damage-by-radiation.

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In the afternoon, Deb & I see the cancer doc.

See this, she says, pointing at the scan image. Not really, I think, it's just a lot of meaningless imagery to me.

She points at a spot. That was not there on the last scan, she says. It looks to me as though someone has drawn a small circle on the image. I nod wisely, as though I see what she sees.

How does it compare to the spot from two scans ago?

Interesting thought, says the doc. And plays with images. To cut to the chase:

In May 2020 there was a worrying dark spot. (Dark? It looked like a white circle to me. But for consistency I'll stick with "dark spot".) This was a worry. If it grows, we'll call it cancer.

In September 2020, the dark spot has faded. Good news.

In January 2021 -- the dark spot is back. It's the same place.

Possibilities:

It's cancer that comes and goes. Unlikely but cancer is still a possibility.

Or it's radiation damage. Apparently, this can come late and apparently go.

Or it's cockroaches. Deb does not support this possibility.

So... I'll be scanned again in about six weeks. Same as in 2020: if the spot has grown, we may call it cancer. If not... we just watch this spot.

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So the news is not perfect. Nor is it bad. It's just... Enjoy life, this time six weeks at a time :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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I'd rather be super rich than completely stupid... Ginger Meggs

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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)