all well but ... cold

Slowly getting just a bit more active... slowly :-)

When we go out for exercise, I jog. So slowly that it may as well be a fast walk :-) Or possibly a slooowww walk.

For a lot of the day I simply huddle under blankets, trying to keep warm. It's too cold to sit at the PC. Sheesh, winter :-(

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

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Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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

really annoying

Some things are annoying. The soles of my feet -- under the toes and under the front of the feet... still "tingle". Hard to describe. Somewhere between a tingle and ... numb. Except that sometimes it gets very very itchy. And that is annoying. Till it stops itching.

Something that is *really* annoying, is my eyesight.

No, not the loss of peripheral vision. Just my eyesight which has faded due to age.

I definitely need reading glasses. My distance vision is at the limit where -- legally -- I should wear glasses for driving. Just walking round, I'm fine. Except...

Now that I can't see to my left -- I need to be more careful about what I can see.

I have to watch carefully. Watching all round... more alert to what I see -- and don't see.

And that awareness makes me more aware of my normal... remaining... eyesight. I'm more aware that what I see is less clear than I would like.

So I've started wearing my glasses -- the distance / driving / everyday glasses -- all the time.

So with no apologies to people who have always had to wear glasses: Wearing glasses is really, really ... annoying.

===

Loss of peripheral vision? I just have to deal with that. For example:

We rogained on the weekend. Just a very pleasant stroll in the bush. Less than four hours. 150 points. I was definitely the slow one in our team :-)

Slow. Careful. Watching to my left. And I still managed to walk ... three times into trees. I tell you, those trees leapt out at me!

But walking into a tree is not annoying. Okay, my teammates worried that I could walk left off a cliff. But trees? No, not annoying.

Quite funny, in fact :-) Because, well... I wasn't having a conversation with the trees... was I :-?

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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

ups and downs

I've just sent a couple of emails to the app developer in NY. It seems promising, I may yet get an app developed :-)

Monday was a different feeling.

Trouble finding files on the PC. Trouble typing. Trouble getting my thoughts organised. Very tired. I was sick and tired of thinking about an app which -- as far as I can tell -- is wanted by no-one but me. Why do it?

Stuff it, I thought. I give up. I decide to do stuff all. Just eat, sleep, read books. Can't be bothered with apps -- or anything else -- which interest no-one.

That feeling lasted thirty minutes.

Today: I'm ready to go. As far as I can tell, there is still no-one who wants my app. Other than me :-)

But bugger it.

I want it.

So... onward... to app obscurity.

Why not :-?

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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

very impressive

Well that is a very pleasant surprise :-)

A bill arrives from the hospital. It's the cost of my surgery. Total... $25,826.

Our health insurance fund has kicked in its share.

What I still owe: $34.58.

Seems like this is a year when our health insurance is worth paying :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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

navigation test

Sunday: Deb & I go to Jorgenson Park in Kalamunda. We are following an "Orienteering Anytime" map... to see if I can navigate.

The answer is, No. The map makes no sense to me. Mind you, it's several years since I've been comfortable following an O map.

So Deb follows the map, I follow Deb. Then we enjoy a picnic, it's a beautiful day :-)

Navigating the rogaine this coming weekend could be... interesting!

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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

another good result

Thursday, we see the surgeon. So, we ask,what did you remove?

First, he admires his needlework. Nicely done and I'm healing well. Better yet -- turns out, these are dissolving stitches. I just wait... and they are removing themselves.

Then we look at pictures... my brain again, after the surgery.

Yes, that large rounded area is indeed, empty space. So what was removed? Analysis shows that it was nearly all -- scarring. Or, radiation necrosis. It took a very long time to appear, but... that's what it is. Or was.

To be specific: No new tumour. Which is excellent news :-)

Yes, there are cancer cells. Perhaps 2% of what was removed was cancer cells. There will always be cancer cells (the cancer is incurable). But no cells grown into a tumour. A tumour would have been "bad" news.

I'm back to where I've been for the last couple of years: cancerous but on hold. Back to enjoying life... between scans :-) Phew!

Should I take it easy? Avoid vigorous exercise for a few months? No... get running... Oh rats. Oh well... back in training for Cradle Mountain :-)

Time to arrange yet another MRI, says the surgeon. Leave that to the oncologist? I suggest. Good idea, agrees the surgeon, do it all through the one doc.

So we see the oncologist next week. Let her suggest the timing for the next scan. And treatment? That's up to the oncologist...

I'm betting that radiation will not be suggested :-) Not after removing all that radiation burn. Surgery? done. Chemo, already taken that to the limit. So... I hope... back to just waiting, scanning, enjoying life :-)

===

The surgery removed non-cancerous stuff. Was it worth it? Yes... just the scarring has permanently damaged my vision. Not cancerous but damaging -- and it could have been getting worse. Definitely better out than in.

Should I have had surgery even earlier? Perhaps removed the shadow as soon as it appeared? Possibly...

Remove the first shadow and... I would not have lost my peripheral vision? But I would have been thinking, There is no damage (yet) so why am I having surgery? And... perhaps the scarring would have continued to grow -- and cause damage -- even after being largely removed.

Urgent surgery may have been a good idea. But... there would still be doubt: doubt that it was even necessary.

So... see a shadow, cut it out, or... wait (as we did) for symptoms? There's no clear answer. It's a matter of judgement, probabilities, and luck.

I'm quite happy that we made all the right decisions. Quite happy because... well, it's now too late to change the past :-)

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Going in to see the surgeon I'm quite certain that he has removed a tumour. But not at all worried. Better out than in. And yet... There's still great relief: just radiation necrosis! And now it's gone. Phew, indeed :-)

We celebrate with coffee and cake :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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

An Awfully Big Adventure

Today I set myself a challenge... to get to the shops and back. All by myself :-)

When I can't drive, I lose a lot of confidence. Along with the independence. Time to rebuild both !

Turns out... it's easy :-)

Uber is as easy as it should be. Just drop me at any entrance to the shops, I tell the driver. He points to the nearest entrance... just as well, I start in the right direction.

Then I just wander round inside. I only see half of what I look at. Doesn't matter. I only want one shop, a large one. Inside, first thing I see is exactly what I want...

Today is my birthday. As a Lord of the Rings fan -- I give presents on my own birthday. This year the presents will be even more hobbit-ish... Mathoms... Things which are absolutely useless. And there they are, just inside the shop :-) I have to ask, Where do I go to pay? With my half-vision, some things are too well hidden.

Pick up some gift wrapping paper. Ready to surprise :-) Shopping done!

May as well buy some lunch. I'm tempted by salad. Then I buy a muffin -- far less likely to end up off my plate and on the table. I think it was a good choice... It tasted fine... and I believe that I ate most of it... Couldn't see any leftovers on the table, anyway :-)

I find an exit from the shops. Doesn't matter which exit as long as there is a road. And I call an uber to get home again.

Phew! Success!

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere ... Chinese proverb

===

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