Monday, December 31, 2012

The year that was

Well almost time to eat more seafood, listening to the music wafting up from the foreshore and to gaze at the fireworks lit from Dyke Point once more.  Another year over and what have I done?   Well I was sick for a big chunk of it and while short on energy I do feel mighty fine. Photographically speaking I completed a massive section of my 100 Strangers Project.  I was generally happier with the quality of the images for the Strange, Not Stranger Project over the 100 Strangers Project, but am still astounded at how easy it is to get a total stranger to pose for you.  Friends are not so easy!!  I appreciate those who had faith in me. If you want to see those images you should go here www.flickr.com/photos/nammo/

 The 135mm lens I bought late in 2011 is totally worth its weight in gold and I did lash out of some awesome Pocket Wizards in 2012 which brings new technology to the way I light a shot.  Still more practice is needed!!!  Another highlight was the Disposable Camera Challenge.  Three rounds of fun with cardboard cameras and the "fantastic Ektanar" lens.  2012 also saw my Mater Hospice exhibition come down and my Planet Islington exhibition go up!  Both great fun.   Friends met through photography never cease to amaze.  They willing share knowledge and equipment and are generally heaps of fun to go out with.  They also call a spade a spade and if an image sucks they will tell you.  For that I am grateful.

Old friends also filled a big part of 2012.  The memorable  "April 11 Lunch with Moo" where Mr Lumpy Bump was first found and which lead to being diagnosed with cancer 7 days later was one I will never forget.  The totally crazy Chrissy lunch with Ella and Julie is another that will go down in history for fun and laughs.  Florida Beach Bar often have some great acts and fine food to make a great day.  The hundreds of meals shared with friends inbetween these two events also bring a smile to my face.  Workplace Wednesday Lunch club was great and the inaugural "Building 3 Ladies Fishing Club" burgers and chips at Wangi was also a memorable day..... if not only for watching Stella spew up the peanuts she had scoffed and Lexi catching the weirdest looking fish I have ever seen in my life!  Friday afternoon coffee with Geoff and the Peabury visits with Scotty also highlight the year that was.

Other memorable moments of 2012 would have to be the photo day trip to Brisbane, Anita's farewell after 42 years of service, a car accident (not my fault) and the fun and games that followed to track down the lying little cow that gave me a phoney name and disconnected phone number! I won that battle!!   Family wise there were some milestones too.  Nic flew to Hawaii and on crewing the sub back to Fremantle he was awarded his Dolphins, a fully fledged Submariner.  Russell won the job of his dreams in a big company up the Valley, Rachel turned 21..... the less said about that the better!!!   Admitting that I finally needed to retire my beautiful big old bed and replace it with a brand spanking new ultra mod version, was a long time coming.   Naturally I needed a whole new bedroom full of furniture to go with it.  Had a great trip to Sydney with some 100 Stranger photographers and a couple of freakishly funny trips to Ikea for stuff that we "simply don't need"!  There was also abundant cake in 2012!!!

There are by far too many people to thank for making my 2012 a great year.  If you are reading this, you are one of them. THANK YOU!

So on the whole it has been a year full of happenings.  Some totally unexpected and some coveted and long anticipated.  And of course...... here are the photos to prove it!

















Sunday, December 9, 2012

How things have changed!!!

After the 24 November post (yeah I would link it here if I knew how) where I whinged and moaned about being a misery and how it had to change..... well vote 1 for the power of positive thinking. A complete turnaround! Happy, cheery and bright. Looking at the positives and a great future.

Was totally surprised to see so many people had viewed the blog. Then I found Andrew had tweeted a link. I don't tweet, so that was a bit weird and very comforting. Over 2000 views!! So many people emailed and texted me. Poor old Scotty took me for coffee 3 times in the one week. He's confident now I am over the bad stuff.....and I am too. So its all good and looking up!

Other great stuff happened over the fortnight too. My No.1 Nephew was promoted to Able Seaman. Not as awesome as when he was awarded his Dolphins, but great news for his career as a submariner in Fremantle. No.2 Nephew has finally cracked an apprenticeship. The one he wanted, with a big company up the Valley beating hundreds of others for the position. I had yet another birthday which was fun. LOTS of cake was consumed!!! I returned to work and slipped right in as if nothing had changed. Work is great fun. I am surrounded by awesome people.

There were a couple of tragic moments this week though. My mate Jenny came to the realisation that it was getting all too hard to come to work each day and applied for a medical discharge. She is fighting cancer and it has been a long battle for her. Later that same day a senior Officer, Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson was killed on duty. I didn't know him, but I know how his death affects all the people I work with. Both events show the strength of the policing family and how they come together during the bad times as well as the good. It also shows how professional they are. How they can arrest the alleged offender and remain calm and cool. They know they must remain professional, even when hurting, so that Justice can be done by the courts.

So that's the fortnight that has been. Summer has really hit with long hot days. The lawns are high and need some controlling, the veggies are growing madly but need some care. Christmas is just around the corner. Tree is up, all gifts bought, wrapped, labelled and under the tree. Even given out the first couple!!! 10 more days at work and then I have about 10 days off. Much as I hate to admit it, I do need the break!

Now what photos for this post....... CAKE of course!!!













Sunday, November 25, 2012

Misery guts no more!

Well haven't I been a misery guts for the last week!  Since seeing the Specialist last monday I've been either a misery moaner or a blithering soppy mess.  Well enough is enough.  Can't go on like this forever.  Time to slap myself across the face with a wet fish and get moving again.

All this transpired from the specialists appointment last monday.  I SHOULD have been bouyant. Seeing a Doctor in the Medical Rooms at the John Hunter Hospital is usual an event tinged with clock watching and tisk tisking about how late can he/she be.  My appointment was 4pm so I naturally assumed I'd be lucky to be in by 5, but no...... he was EARLY!  How totally unheard of!!!  A doctor EARLY! Luckily I was early too!  It might only have been a few minutes, but early is always better than late!!!

This was our first meeting, he is a man of small stature, but his brain is enormous (or so I am lead to believe).  He had read all my notes, reports, tests and had seen all my scans, ultrasounds and stuff.   We chatted about my understanding of where I was at and treatment options, ongoing testing, what it all means for me, but the decision had already been made.  I was to be booked in for Radioactive Isolation. I just needed the date.  He organised that on the spot.  15 February.  For two days prior I will go to hospital for ridiculously expensive injections that will hopefully help me not be tooooo sick during the process.  The third day I go in I get some radioactive material to swallow and then am locked away in a lead room for the next 3 days, maybe longer depending on how fast I process toxic waste!  Sure visitors can come, but they have to stay 2 metres away and not stay for more than 10 minutes, but they are welcome!  I asked the obvious question "Is there internet access?" but he didn't know.  I know because I found out later, there is! PHEW!

So why the misery?  Because he explained that cancer cells have now been found in my blood cells and basically they are just squirting around in my body looking for somewhere cosy to land and build a nice home and grow some bigger cancery thing.  Hence my decidedly unhappy disposition for the last week.   Well I'm over it!  Those cancer cells are there and there is nothing I can do to change that.  So get up, dust off, move on.   A very wise man once said "worry is praying for something you don't want.  So don't pray for something you don't want!"  I've wasted a week on worry and that's a week I won't get back!  So its done.

Earlier this morning I began penning an email to that GREAT photographer and all round damn fine guy Andrew Gunsberg.  No I didn't just pick him out of thin air!!  A couple of years ago I began to notice his work online. He's a flickr dude.  Then when he held an exhibition is Sydney I went and bought a couple of his works. I had no idea he is who he is. I'm not a telly buff, ABC excepted.  Moo had to explain it to me. I really do live under a rock!   Strangely I met him at his exhibition and found a dude with great talent and an AWESOME sense of humour and we started emailing shortly afterwards.  Thru this whole illness process he has been super supportive and caring and sweet and all those things you'd never expect from a busy busy man.   But I digress.  I started an email to him this morning and it was full of misery and sadness.  I read his last email to me again and he was so positive and joyous that I had come thru the ops well and that Mr Lump Bump was gone (although he coined a new term for the growth which is best not written here).  And that was my lightbulb moment.  When I realised I needed to get over the grief and get going again.  I couldn't be a misery when he is such a joy.  I didn't want to live in grief.

So I will jump into treatment as I jumped into the surgeries and the process so far.  With gusto!  Sad and soppy are left behind with appropriate apologies to Sexi Lexi, Big Dan the Man, Louie and Maria, Craig, Scotty, Sharm and Carry who all got to see the yukky side of me this week.  Oh ok, Scotty has endured the yukky side of me before, but for some reason thinks I'm worth the effort.  Sorry Dudes, won't happen again.  And to Andrew..... you have no idea what you have done or the power of your words.  Just keep doing what you do.

Have a look at Andrews selfies, he's an awesome worker with off camera lighting.  You can see his 365 project here www.flickr.com/photos/andrewgunsberg/sets/72157619664755998/. I freely admit I am shit at putting live links in, so give me a chance and I will get that sorted for you.

I don't like to end a blog without a pic, so here's a couple I made earlier. You can see more of my stuff here... www.flickr.com/photos/nammo/










Sunday, September 30, 2012

Back at work. The post cancer post!

Well four and a half months has passed since I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  It has been a wild and woolly ride.  First there was a nuclear scan, two ultrasounds, a biopsy, untold blood tests and not one, but two horrible endoscopes where a tiny little camera was put up my nose and down my throat.  I had 5 admissions to  hospital, 3 surgeries and have walked away with a choice scar across my throat and a much smaller one on my back.  I seem to have lost a few weeks, achieved little most of the time and am living proof that daytime televisions should be banned across the globe!!!   Now I am back to work and loving it!   My energy levels are still very low as the drug prescribed to replace my now defunct thyroid don't appear to be working at this stage.  I struggle with concentration and reading a good book is just a sad old memory these days!!  That will change.  The big question is when!?!?!  Against this low energy issue I have been pushing myself by being out in the garden this weekend mowing and planting and generally working up a sweat.  Photographically I haven't done anything really outstanding, but I have nutted our a new series of shots I would like to take.   They are all still in my head, but they will make it to the sensor sometime soon.

One thing I have achieved is I have sent to my little printer man in France 56 images for the 2013 spiral bound diaries.  I don't recall how I lucked across this french printer man, but I'm so glad I did.  He does small print runs.  I only ordered 8 this year.  How it works is I send the images and a template of what I want to a bloke I know in London, he then sends them on to the printer man in France and weeks later beautiful diaries turn up at my door, each having one of my images on each page.  I could probably sent them direct to France, but my high school french is limited to "there is the window"and "shut your mouth",  neither is very helpful in negotiating a print run!!!   I make these little gems every year and, this will sound very arrogant, I give them away as gifts!   Initially I struggled with  giving my images as gifts, but I have since given diaries, calendars and framed works...... and they have all been warmly received.  Mind you it is doubtful someone would tell you if they thought your gift to them was naff!!!   I hope they are enjoyed.

I won't bore you, showing you all 56 shots now, but here are a few I have sent my french printer man.   Oh, and if you are one of the lucky people who will receive a diary..... I hope this doesn't spoil your surprise!!








I guess the only downside is that these little gems aren't printed in Australia.  I simply have not been able to find a printer that can make equivalent quality diaries at a reasonable price.  Sad but true!  I do have my calendars and cards printed in OZ.  I use Redbubble for that and they do create awesome work.  You can find me on Redbubble as nammo.  This link might (or might not) work....  http://www.redbubble.com/people/nammo


Monday, September 3, 2012

I am NOT an organ donor

Yep, you read right, I am NOT an organ donor. Nor am I a blood donor.  But before you write me off as a completely selfish loser you might want to understand why.  I WAS a donor, I registered on my licence the very first time donors were being recorded.   Sadly now my blood and guts just aren't good enough because I have cancer.   My blood and organs are no longer viable to transplant into someone else.  Donor recipients are not generally in excellent health, but they will be sicker with my festy cancerous bits in them!!!  My particular cancer, Papillary Carcinoma (Hurthle Cell Variant), means the cancer cells move through my body via my bloodstream not just my lymphatic system so they are useless to even the sickest person awaiting a transplant.  And trust me, the people awaiting a transplant aren't having a great life.  

Cancer affects thousands of people. The USA National Cancer Institute estimates 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get cancer. There is no reason to question that these statistics are much different in Australia.  Thus the pool from which donors can come is getting smaller and smaller.   The whole point of this blog is to hopefully encourage just one person who is not currently registered to take my place on the donor lists.  Heaps of people have offered to help me while I have been sick and I have been really lucky to have needed so little assistance, but I do now. I need someone to come forward and fill my spot on the Organ Donor Register.

About 20% of people waiting for a heart, lung or liver transplant never get one. They simply die before an organ becomes available.   That's just not good enough is it.   So if you are not already registered now is the time to put your hand up,  register online or telephone Medicare,  update your licence to show you are a donor and make sure your family know your wishes.

So now you know why I'm not a donor.  What's your reason?

Here are some happy blood red themed pics to thank you for reading this far.






Thursday, August 23, 2012

More Strangers and a old buddy

Trying to get back out there, build up my strength,  stamina and having some normality in my life is high on my priority list.  I go back to work in about 10 days and I need to be able to manage an early rise and a full working day.  I know it is not going to be easy so I am trying to get that happening now. I wake as though it is a working day, but i do kinda lay in for a bit longer, then do the usual morning rituals but stop short of jumping in the beast and trying to get it started before the glorious journey around the lake to work.

I'm still struggling with carrying anything with any weight in it.  Handbag/shoulderbag is fine, but throw in a camera and a flash and I really struggle to lift it and carry it for any distance.  I have a number of different bags, each takes more equipment than the last, but I have yet to be able to lug one about for hours.

Monday I hit Mt Penang Gardens with a slingpack, camera and just the macro lens.  NOPE!  I lasted maybe 20 minutes with that load before I had to get the bag off and carry it.  I kept swapping it about and changing the straps, all to no avail. No matter what configuration there was just no ease or comfort.   Having a camera around my neck is an issue too, so I am wrapping the strap around my wrist, but it isn't secure enough for my liking. It was a vey uncomfortable day after that, but long term I think it was good to mark just how the surgery has affected my neck and shoulder muscles.

Tuesday I went on a fashion shoot as the VALS (Voice Activated Light Stand). My duties were simple.  I had to ensure the wind didn't whip the flash head and beauty dish over. When it came time to change locations I struggled to carry the flash head battery pack.  I carried it one short distance, but that killed so I had assistance after that.  I didn't carry any gear and I really enjoyed the day in the sun.

Wednesday I again packed a camera bag, one lens and a flash and headed to Honeybee in Darby Street, this time I was meeting up with Kiasmin Burrell, a local artist, to take her portrait for my "Strange, NOT Strangers" series.  Light load, one camera, one lens.  Found a Stranger for the "100 Strangers Project" too.  Managed quite well with the lighter load, so I need to build up from here.  The days of lugging a 20kilo backpack on a half day bushwalk seem a distant memory, but I will get back there.  It will just take some time.

So I was very pleased with my shots.  best I share them with you now.

A honeybee at Mt Penang Gardens


Kiasmin at Honeybee in Darby Street


Tim at Honeybee in Darby Street.

If you want to see more of my "100 Strangers" or "Strange, NOT Strangers". you can find them all here...  www.flickr.com/photos/nammo/sets/72157627397557911/ just follow the links.  If you want to see the work of Kiasmin Burrell then you need to go here... http://www.kiasmin.com/






Monday, August 20, 2012

Three weeks later

It's nearly 3 weeks since the last operation.  The majority of that time has been pretty good. Sleeping, or rather remaining asleep has been the biggest issue.  Trying to get comfy with healing stitches in your throat is no easy task but there is good news.  I saw the surgeon and his newest Registrar on 13 August and was told the cancer had not spread to the left side so the option to go in for a third surgery and remove the lymph nodes will not occur at this stage. YAH for me!!!  I am really happy with the new scar and wouldn't want it messed with again!   So where to from here???  The Surgeon signed me off and has referred me to an Endocrinologist to continue with monitoring and treatment.  Surgeon said I would be having the Radioactive Iodine treatment in the future, but as the John Hunter Hospital only has one lead room,  it could be quite a wait.  Waiting is fine, more time to heal!!!

Getting back into a routine is not the easiest task simply because of the sleep problems.  Waking tired, or in a bit of a drug haze is the issue. I have cut out all pain killer but do take them at night on the really really bad nights.  I now totally understand why they put me off work for so long.
I can drive again and have been out and about, trying to keep myself busy.  I still can't lift heavy things comfortably so I use the laundry trolley to transport all the other stuff like groceries and potting mix.   Ingenious I hear you say. Yep, that me, although WHY it took so long to work out is a whole other issue!!!  Carrying my camera gear is not really an option at this stage.  So when I do go out I either take one camera/one lens...... or an assistant to carry the load. THANKS JOSH!

I did manage to get some shots last week, just of some oddities at a friends business.  Best I show you and I hope to get out again later today to get some more. I did manage to recommence my 100 Stranger Project too with a shot of Eden.  No.51 so it is all downhill from here!   But first up here are the ones from last week....  hope you like them!








Sunday, August 12, 2012

Yep, It's cancer alright.

So you know how I wasn't getting to learn about the makeup of Mr Lumpy Bump until 16 July......well that changed.  On 12 July my nephew sent me a text to ring his mum straight away.  She had received a call from the surgeon and he needed to talk to me urgently.  I had had two missed calls on my mobile, but as the number was blocked I couldn't call back.  So I rang the Doc and he is all wordy and  apologetic that he has to tell me some bad news over the phone.  Mr Lumpy Bump is not a benign follicular neoplasm, he is a papillary carcinoma and I need further surgery PRONTO.  Pronto as in Tuesday July 17.  Yes, he still needed to see me monday, some pre op stuff and some form signing etc, but there would be slicing and dicing the following day.

Well, this is soooooo not what I had expected.  Blew me away. When I rang him I really thought he was ringing the change my monday appointment time, not tell me the news I had never expected to get.   I was a bit lost for the moment and due to the environment I was in, it was hard to hear everything he said.  I was waiting to get a haircut when all this happened and when I eventually sat in the cutters chair I had no real idea what was ahead of me and I have no way to articulate what I wanted done to my locks.  I exited the hairdressers with much less length than I expected, but it will grow back.

When I got home I had to tell a few people about what was happening next and that included my two office buddies Louise and Lexi.  I rang the boss first and asked for him to give me half an hour to tell the girls before it became common knowledge at work.  I also rang my buddy Jen who is in hospital at the mo fighting the good fight against breast cancer.  I wasn't sure whether to tell her or not, but she was going to find out sooner or later, so it was better coming from me. I rang a few special folk and much much later in the evening I put the news up on facebook page. My facebook page is private so only selected people can see what I write.  So many people have responded and I feel bad that I just haven't had the presence of mind to respond.  You see for the first time I have not felt positive about this.  I am apprehensive about op number #2. I fear carrying on like a pork chop in recovery again and that feeling when all I wanted was ice that I thought I would die if I didn't get a sliver of ice in my parched mouth.

Knowledge is power and I know I will be feeling much more positive after I have a chat with the surgeon tomorrow, but that doesn't help how I feel today.  Worse still I have soooo much housework to do. Loads of washing.  I need to clean out the fridge and tend the veggies and I have no energy to do anything but sit on this stupid time wasting machine feeling miserable.

So I'm thinking this is so negative I will never post it.  I'll just save it as a draft and see how it goes.

Well I held the above post in "Drafts" until today.  Here comes part 2. Hang on to your hat!!!

I saw the surgeon on 16 July and went to hospital on 17 July only to be again bumped out of the surgical list due to lack of time.  Surgeon was very concerned that I didnt get a cold and he'd have to postpone me again so he put me off work and back into home isolation for a fortnight.

On 31 July I arrived at the John Hunter Hospital at 6am and hit the Operating Theatre 1 at 9am.  The second operation was called a left hemithyroidectomy and took 96 minutes in total.  Just before I went in the Docs changed the consent form from WITH neck dissection to "blank".  I was a bit groggy and had no idea what this meant but later found out that they were going to try to preserve the lymph nodes.

I spoke to the doctors about the wrestle I had in recovery after op 1 and so they changed the drug they used on me...... and it worked a treat.  I woke up to Rebecca pumping morphine into my arm and ice into my mouth and the world was rosey.   There must have been some blood as I recall them cutting off my gown and I awoke washed and refreshed in a white gown, instead of the surgical blue.   Nice not to have blood caked in my hair this time!  It was early afternoon when I was taken up to the ward.

I had a two night stay this time.  Restful is not a word to describe hospital.  I was continually awoken for more blood tests or tablets or to check my drip or blood glucose levels.  The surgeons called around twice a day as well as the ward Residents and Interns.  It was pretty hectic and I was glad to finally be released.

One thing I hadn't reckoned on was the medication.  I came home on 20 tablets a day.  A mix of painkillers and antibiotics, but now, 11 days on, I am down to just 3 for the thyroid.  The daily blood tests end monday......well at least I hope they end monday.

Yes monday..... tomorrow.... an early start.  9.30 blood tests at the hospital followed by an 11am appointment with the surgeon.  Hopefully he will have a plan of attack ready for me for ongoing treatment and details on what was found in the other half of my thyroid.

In the second op the Doc reopened the initial wound and extended it.  In the process he straightened it up so I am very happy with the result. Looks good and is clean and a nice colour.  It is very sore.  It was probably this sore last time too, but I can't clearly remember.  That first op seems so long ago.

My boss has been excellent, ringing and texting and bending over backwards to make this easy for me. My friends have been supportive and helpful and the offers of assistance have been coming in thick and fast.  My nephew Russell has borne the workload.  Driving, shopping, lifting, gardening and doing all the stuff I can't do.   He's a good kid.

The Boss broke the "no flowers" rule and sent me an enormous bouquet.  What's a girl to do, but to take  photos of it!  Here are some!





Friday, July 6, 2012

So much better than grapes!

You know when you are sick people tend to spoilt you with flowers and grapes and stuff like that.  Well as you know I've been a bit little but sick and I did get some lovely flowers, no grapes, but 4 dozen roses and a bouquet of gerberas and cabbage flowers made up for the lack of grapes.  I also received one very unusual gift.....a live model.  My mate D knows how i LOVE to have a camera in my hand and so instead of flowers or grapes he turned up with Kiara!  A 21 year old vivacious creature with a full sleeve tattoo and a part shaved and tattooed head!  AWESOME!  Sooooo much better than grapes!

I have the ability to turn my loungeroom into a 5 light studio with full continuous paper backdrop set up in about 10 minutes flat and that we did.  Struggling to lit heavy stuff D helped me raise the backdrop and set up some lights.  He also did some prop moving and held me steady as I climbed up a little ladder to shoot from above.   Knowing I wanted to do a  bit of a glam shoot Kiara took the time to curl her hair and do her makeup and she was totally into the glam role.

We shot in four outfits....... but one just didn't suit the brief.  So four became three and over two hours we managed to get about 35 classy (even if I do say so myself) shots.  Coffee was consumed, the studio packed away and goodbyes said left me exhausted but I did manage to view the images that night. I am not one for photoshop, simply as I have no idea how to use it, but with consistent lighting and stable backdrops nothing really needed to be done to them.

So here are a few of what was shot.
I hope you like them. I know I do!






















Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Over and out!

Over and out, but I don't mean in "this is my last blog post" kinda way.  I mean in my op is over and Mr Lumpy Bump is out!  Yep, at EXACTLY this time last week I was in the anaesthetic bay of operating room 5 at the John Hunter Hospital chatting to Gabby and Chris about persian fetta when Chris hooked me up to the drip and I drifted off.  The discharge notes state I had a Right Hemi Thyroidectomy with a level 6 lymph node dissection and a nerve monitor. The operation took exactly 136 minutes.  I woke up in recovery and disgraced myself by having a wrestle with 4 nurses, ripping off the mask, begging for ice. I lost a fair bit of bark in that wrestle, mostly from my elbows and knees. Lucky I was in one of the brand spanking new plastic electric beds.  I could have done some real damage in a metal bed.

So 7 days later the state of play is pretty good.  The main scar is a little disappointing!  It is a 7cm "midline transverse incision" which basically means it is a single cut across the middle of my throat.... but it is a little crooked and not evenly placed.  But I did say to the surgeon that I had no issue with whatever scar I ended up with and that is true.  Long term, it will fade.  The compression stocking, endless drugs, pulling stitches, missing skin, swelling hands, pain swallowing, eating, coughing, breathing and the lack of quality sleep are taking their toll BUT Mr Lumpy Bump has GONE and that has to be the number one plus outweighing all the rest!

Where to from here?  Well Mr Lumpy Bump ended up in a jar and has since been frozen and is being tested to find out exactly what he is made of!  I find that out on July 16 and until then there is nothing I can do but rest and recover.  The results are either going to be good or bad, but nothing I can do in the way of worry or concern will change the result....... so that issue will not be entering my mind again until 16 July.

So.....as you know my passion is photography and I wanted the have a shot of myself pre scar.  Being in lock down to avoid the common cold and having surgery cancelled for a third time I had to either take a self portrait OR never have that shot.   I set the tripod up in the loungeroom and took a few shots.  Well actually I took a few DOZEN shots.  Autofocus is great but getting the focus point on my face and not  onto the curtains, tv, reflector or window was a challenge. But I got it done.  Today I look a second selfie.  Same outfit, same window light, same tripod and a similar perspective.  I took a lot less shots today to get the finished product.  Sure I could have just taken a post op shot and photoshopped the scar out.... but that was kinda cheating.

I do not know how people take a selfie EVERYDAY.   Yes!  There are some freaks in the photo community that take a self portrait everyday.  Some for a year, some ongoing.  Those people are just amazing and have something I don't possess.  There are some very famous 365 sets. Andrew Gunsberg for one.  His 365 included dramatic and difficult artifical lighting.  Moo shot consistently for over 500 days from the day of her divorce onwards.  Crazy!!   There are currently hundreds of 365 groups on flickr some with over 2000 members!!!   For me, the tripod will be packed away.  Maybe an update 12 months from now, but i don't need record and compare anymore.  That job is done.

So here they are.....  Pre and post op shots.
Hope you enjoy them.