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Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Big C Rears its Ugly Head 8

Well I haven't posted for a while.. intended to put in an update last week, but the chemo really savaged me and I didn't get around to it.
Lol.. I guess I was getting away with it too easily Feeling a bit better this week as it's been a small infusion.

I think the chemo is starting to effect my eyes a bit.. watery some days and a bit dry on others.. 

Had a bit of good news on the tumor after last weeks scan.. it's shrunk down to half its original size..  I guess saying I'm delighted about that would be an understatement..:-)

Still having problems with Phlebitis, but fortunately it only seems to strike on the big infusion every third week.. by carefully keeping the affected arm out of use for the next three infusions we've managed to keep one arm serviceable.. heh!

Appetite has been a bit up and down, but on the ups it's been ravenous enough to maintain my weight at around 202 pounds.. heartburn has improved.. hoorayyyyy!..:-)

I think I've got four more infusions to go and can't say I'll be sorry to have the last one behind me..

Big thanks to all my friends.. your support is way beyond valuable!!






Friday, May 13, 2011

Big C Rears it's Ugly Head... 7

Well.. here we are on Friday 13th.. lol.. no worries, I've always looked on 13 as a lucky number.
I've now had 4 chemo infusions and things are not going too badly apart from:
  1. I'm frequently tired and it comes on really suddenly.. so bad at times you have to sit down before you fall down.
  2. I'm getting a real dislike for needles.. just had so many needles shoved in me for one reason or another over the last few months... lol... bit of a phobia..:-)
  3. Left arm is feeling a bit sore from the last infusion.
  4. My hair was starting to fall out and make a mess everywhere.. it's now cropped short... saves me combing it and cleaning it up from pillows etc.
  5. Heartburn.. pass the Gaviscon..
  6. Appetite not so good.  The heartburn doesn't help.
  7. 8 more infusions to go.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Big C Rears it's Ugly Head... 6



April 30th... Slept really well.. heh.. I'm feeling quite fresh.. can this continue?... I doubt it can continue to be this easy, but I ain't about to knock it..:-)

Phlebitis in right arm is still red, feels a bit hard and is tender to the touch along the vein..

May 1st.. Feeling a bit tired.. still eating well and no constipation..  lol... that's probably down to the Guinness...:-)


May 2nd.. No noticeable change in right arm...  Really tired today.. dunno what the hell I'm doing while asleep, but it's wearing me out.. lol.. good excuse for a three hour nap..:-)..zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Getting some mean nerve pains from the surgery so have had to go back onto oxycodeine to keep that at bay.. 
Sleeping pills seem to be helping me get better sleep.


May 3rd.. Into UNC for an infusion at 9am today.. 2 more steroids and they increased the drip flow to water the drugs down a bit more so it doesn't make the veins so sore. 
So far there's no sign of Phlebitis in the left arm,, Hurraayyy!!..:-)  All went OK,, had coffee and nibbles to pas the time..
Another of those 'hold your breath now' scans at 2.30pm.. glad to get out of there and go home.. seems to leave me really tired.. guess there's quite a bit of stress involved in it all. even if you don't really notice it at the time.  
Getting a bit sick of needles.. feel like a pin cushion. 
Luckily I have a group of nurses who all have that wonderful knack with needles...phew..:-)

May 4th..  LOL... appetite is back with a vengeance.. thunder woke me at about 0430 so I hopped out and had a big fry up... hehehe.. got the bacon smoking a bit too much and set off the smoke alarm.. hehehee... one up all up..:-) 


No more now until May 9th... woooohooooo..:-)







Friday, April 29, 2011

Big C Rears it's Ugly Head... 5

Sorry this has been a bit slow appearing..:-)

Well.. I doped myself pretty well last night (19th April) and slept like a log.. hadn't slept at all well night before as the steroids can apparently mess with the prostrate a bit.. damned frequency kept getting me up, but they say that'll pass soon.. felt better for that good sleep, but have been feeling a bit dopey today.. 
Also a bit of vein trouble (20th April) where the chemo is irritating the blood vessels in my right arm.. sore and red..  
Thankfully rushing to the bathroom has stopped.. hurraaaaay!..:-)

On the topic of bathrooms the 2 a day stool softeners are working reasonably well and I've been told to increase the Senna to 2 a day if needed..  I suspect my return to milky cereal for breakfast and Guinness as often as I can force it down is helping too.. hehehe
Otherwise.. pretty reasonable and I just pigged out on sugar free chokky bics-n-milk.. hehehe..:-)


I don't really know :-) how well the anti-nausea tablets are working, as I haven't tried it without them, but I've felt nauseous a couple of times and been sick once after taking them religiously, so have to assume they're doing their best.

I'de noticed my appetite has dropped off a little.. that may be due to the heartburn and nausea forcing me to eat my food at a more sensible/leisurely pace than has been the rush-rush-norm over the years.. They do say that eating quickly fills you fuller than your stomach really likes, as the reptile brain in the stomach is a bit slow communicating the "WOAH" message to the brain in your head.

Also my beloved Coffee has started to taste like horse piss.. hehehe.. No.. I've never actually drunk horse piss.. honest..:-)
I suspect that this is a two pronged matter... The chemo has changed the way some things taste and I've been trying to avoid sugar.. the artificial stuff really doesn't taste the same.. I don't care what the adverts say, heh!  those spin doctors' will tell you anything to get your $$'s..:-(

22/23 April.. feeling much more energetic and have stopped taking anti-nausea tablets.. lots of work in yard and even got the bike out for a ride.. extra energy feels good!! 
Arm still sore and bruised along the veins.. bit hard in places too..
Had trouble getting my sleeping pill prescription... lol... they'd doubled the dose showing on the original prescription, as they weren't strong enough.. trouble is that meant the refill wasn't due until 6th May and naturally CVS didn't know about the increased dose... lol... think they thought I was selling them??.. Sorted anyway..:-)


24th April..  In for second infusion and all went well.. used other arm this time.. once again coffee and chocolate cake to pass time.. 
They say the problem with the right arm veins is due to the first infusion causing a tad of Phlebitis. hopefully the other arm wont be bothered by today's lesser infusion.
Good news.. I've now been officially told to eat as much as I can of whatever I like and that includes sugar... woooohoooooo... it's not often you're told that!... may the gods help those creamy, chokky buns..:-)  I was also recommended a recipe for a rich herb gravy.. nice.. shame that can't be prescribed in this state..:-\
They fed me a couple of big steroids and I'm now eating everything in sight.

29th April... Right arm is still a bit red and tender, but apart from that I've had some really good days and nights.. the stronger sleeping pills and the gravy seem to be working well.. lol.. appetite like a horse and I think I've put on a couple of pounds... haven't needed any anti-nausea tablets at all this time.. hope  this continues.


Until next time.... Huge thanks and [[hugs]] all round for those super friends who keep cheering me on with jokes and good wishes.. love ya'll:-)..xx












Friday, April 22, 2011

Big C Rears it's Ugly Head... 4

I was pretty dopey for the first 24 hours after the operation and messed up my sheets a couple of times being sick from the Morphine..

But the nurses soon had me hiking round the corridors again to get the lungs and bowels on the move..  Constant checks on blood pressure, oxygen content, heart monitor, temperature etc..

Going to the bathroom was a real performance due to all the pipes I had attached... lol... it's hard to envisage how difficult it is to maneuver yourself onto the seat with a wheeled stand on each side and the box for the chest drain tube... you have to be careful not to jerk any of those tubes or you pay the price... eeeek...

I think it was the second day when Doc V. came to see me.. 
In a nutshell things weren't quite as good as they'd seemed.. The Cancer hadn't moved out of the chest but had sneaked into the chest cavity.. that's the bit around the lungs.. so was technically in the blood stream and couldn't be cured...  Hmmmm incurable, but it could be treated in much the same way that things like Diabetes could.  How did I feel at this news?..  I'm not sure.. I think I was still a bit dopey and maybe that wasn't a bad thing.
Later, the good old "never say die" kicked in.

So I was in for Chemo and I agreed to go on a trial for a new drug.... Bavituximab... apparently being on the trial would get me a lot more attention/supervision than normal... lol... always grab the perks eh?

I had expected to be in hospital for a week to twelve days, but I must be a fast healer and was home again on day four armed with a good stash of oxycodeine and stool softeners..  They insisted on wheeling me out to the car in a trolley thingy... lol... I felt like a kid at Wallmart..:-)

Over the next couple of weeks I was in and out of the hospital for another round of every conceivable scan and test.  
All this was to give them an accurate picture of where I was at, so they could see what improvements the Chemo was making once it started.  I couldn't begin Chemo until 4 weeks after the surgery as it needed time to heal.


I was given steroids to take twice a day, on the day before, the day of and the day after each chemo infusion.


The 19th April 2011 finally arrived and I went in for the first infusion of Chemo.  It was a four hour session spent in a reclining chair while the various drugs dripped into my system.. lol.. I drank coffee, ate cakes and watched TV to pass the time.
Went home on completion feeling fine.. that was sure unexpected, but welcome.
Started on the anti-nausea tablets and felt no effects until 21st April when I started to suffer from hiccups and heartburn..


OK.. that's pretty much up to date..:-)


Big Hugs all round for all my great friends.. your support is invaluable!..:-)












 

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Big C Rears it's Ugly Head... 3

Here's a few snaps of the cuts to give you a better idea..  
























Big C Rears it's Ugly Head... 2

Moving on after leaving hospital on 7th March 2011....

In the days that followed I had lots of visits to the hospital for pre-surgery chest scans, lung tests to see how good my lung capacity was.. brain scan.. ultrasound to check for any clots in my legs.. they worry a lot about clots when anything is going on with the lungs.. particularly clots in the stomach. I remember they were nipping in to inject my stomach with an anti-clotting agent every few hours when I was in hospital after the biopsy collapsed my lung.

The days that followed were pretty painful from the lung drain pipe, but the Oxycodeine(sp) did a pretty good job of making it manageable.


Anyway.. the 21st March 2011 crawled round and I was once again off to UNC Hospital for the Lung surgery.  I can't say I was really worried about the surgery.. perhaps a bit twitchy as I really had no idea what to expect... lol.. well Doc V. had described it, but those technical terms?... well who'd a thought I had all those weird sounding things inside me?? 
All in all it felt a bit strange.. I've spent a lot of my life avoiding bullets etc.. and now I'm here to let someone cut me up... lol.. like a lamb to the slaughter..:-)

As far as I can remember in layman's terms the plan was to..
  1. Cut a hole in my throat so they could poke in a camera and maybe a breathing tube to force me to just use the left lung.
  2. Cut another hole in my right upper chest so they could poke around with my Lymph thingies.
  3. Cut a bloody great 7 inch hole between the ribs on my back to access the right lung and remove the tumor.
  4. Naturally there had to be another of those danged drainage pipes rammed in..  the good news on that was that I was out for the count.. the bad news was that they'd already used the best spot for it with the biopsy lung collapse.. so second best had to do..  heh...

Well they got me stripped off and into a gown... then started the anesthetic process.. great bunch of people, telling me everything that was going on.. naturally everything they said flowed smoothly in one ear and straight out of the other.. I really don't remember drifting off into the great beyond to enjoy some carefree sleep through it all..


It was a pretty big operation and I was out cold for several hours.. no memories of any of it.. lol... can't say I'm sorry about that..:-)


When I came around I was tucked up in a room on my own with lots of pipework attached both sides of the bed and needles poked into quite a number of veins in both arms.. lol... not forgetting the danged chest drain pipe which was now set on vacuum to drain any fluid into a container for measuring..  Also loads of wires everywhere fro the heart monitor in my gown pocket... 
Oh... and an oxygen thingy poked up my nose... that really made my nose itch like hell after a while..
The Morphine on demand button was available, but I didn't need it for a while.. guess the general anesthetic was still working and everything was pretty hazy.


They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so I'll include a couple and hope they aren't to graphic.. First one is the scan showing the problem circled in ink to the left... second two are me snoozing during recovery..  The pink cushion is there to help you squeeze your chest if you cough.. it makes a real difference.. coughing without it sure hurts a lot..:-(










I'll add the more graphic ones to the next entry then they're easier to avoid if you don't want to see..








Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Big C Rears it's Ugly Head...

I had intended to start adding to this blog again last year, but life sorta got in the way... lol..  as it often does for so many of us.

Anyway things in my life have changed fairly dramatically since then and rather than keep updating all the lovely people, who have been kind enough to express an interest in my current situation, by individual email or Face Book etc. I've decided to do it here..

If anyone has any queries about more detail for any of the following stuff please feel free to contact me..  additionally, all readers are more than welcome to add a comment here in the blog... I'll respond as and if appropriate..:-)

It all started when I had a nasty cough and cold, before Christmas 2010, and went to see the Doc.  He gave me some anti-biotic and the cold went, but the cough remained.

In January, at my lovely wife's insistence.. lol... arm up my back, yeah I'm a stubborn old fool..:-)... I went back and the Doc decided to give me an Xray on the spot.  He saw from the Xray plate that there was something he didn't like on my. right lung.  He said he was sorry to have ruined my day and although he didn't actually say the 'word' it seemed clear he figured I had Cancer.. He referred me to UNC Hospital at Chapel Hill NC.

Personal reactions were surprising.. I even surprised myself by how calm I felt...

After reflection, I guess I was looking at it on the basis that when you're born the good news is 'You're alive' and the bad news is that 'You'll die some day, but not yet'

In a way nothing had changed.. "Hey you're alive' 'You'll die some day, but not yet'.. way to go.,;-)

The worst part for me was how upset my best friend, my lover, my  wife was..  that was far more difficult to handle and caused me much more upset, stress and concern than any worries about myself.  Naturally her reaction was to be expected, but knowing that didn't make it any easier to handle and I'm not sure my efforts to calm her were the best.. what can you say to your wife in these circumstances??.. Note to caregivers.. this may apply to others..

My Mum was handling problems with my Dad, who has dementia and was in hospital at the time, so I decided to postpone telling her to spare her the upset.. bad mistake.. I felt really guilty about that and as it turned out she had an inkling something was wrong.. psychic connection?.. probably..  If I had to go over that again I'd have told her from the get-go..

At UNC Hospital I saw Doctor Nirmal Veeramachaneni, MD, on 2nd February 2011.. I call him Doc V.. so does everyone else.. as he's got one of those names that's hard for a westerner to get your tongue round.. He made arrangements for me to have lots of scans, which confirmed there was a tumor on my right lung, but seemed to indicate that the cancer hadn't spread anywhere else outside the lung.  He's a very nice, efficient guy and wanted to be absolutely sure, so he scheduled me for a biopsy on 4th March 2011.

With hindsight, I guess I'd had my suspicions about the Cancer for a while.. perhaps it just hadn't been seen sharply enough to register... or maybe I'd simply chosen to ignore it.

Had the Biopsy and the lung collapsed.. apparently it does this for nearly everyone.. They kept me in to see if it would re inflate under its own steam, but after several hours it became clear the lung was not going to re-inflate as hoped.  This meant a tube had to be inserted to allow drainage of pale pink fluid from the chest cavity..

The Doc in charge asked me if I'd mind him carrying out some training for another doctor on the insertion of the tube?  I was happy to agree.. hell they have to learn some time..  Two shots of local anesthetic numbed the flesh around the ribs under my right arm and a plastic tube about the thickness of my little finger was literally rammed in... lol... no problem until it got in deeper between the ribs than the local anesthetic had numbed... then six or seven more inches were rammed home and boy did it hurt like hell... there's an awful lot of nerve endings in the chest cavity around the lungs... I was practically climbing the walls..:-(

As the tube was now placed I had to stay in for what turned out to be four days.. The tube caused a great deal of pain, but the self administered Morphine helped somewhat.. as long as I didn't need to cough, or move about too much... coughing really let you know what pain was all about... lol... I could give myself a fix by pressing a button every 10 minutes and it worked pretty well..  The first night I didn't sleep much as I was clock watching, waiting for the ten minutes to be up for the next fix... luckily it wouldn't allow you to overdose...  lol... funny really.. felt a bit like a junkie lab rat..:-)  Fortunately, that had settled down by the second day.

Couple of downsides with the Morphine...:-)

   1. Constipation... Keep taking the Stool softeners or you'll be sorry!!
   2.  It causes nausea and sickness... Be sure to try not to take any for about 30 minutes before meals... You'll be hungry... the food will smell great, but you'll likely be sick before you get to eat it..:-(  hehehe,, happened to me a couple of times and that's sad cause the food in UNC Hospital is pretty good!

Was in hospital for four days in the end and had a lot of excellent care from some super nurses.. Lots of hiking me around the hospital corridors to get me exercised and plenty of breathing exercises.. They had to hike me, to help push along the great festoon of pipes and drips that hung from my arms and ribs..  The pipe sure came out much more easily than it had gone in.. few painful twinges, but nothing like when it was put in... lol... thank you Santa!!..:-) 

Doc V dropped by to tell me he was going to operate on my right lung, in light of the biopsy results, and I Escaped home again on 3rd March 2011..

The exit wound from the pipe continued to be painful for about 2 weeks.. in fact it was still giving me twinges when I went in for the operation on 21st March 2011.. so I had to keep topped up with Oxycodeine{sp}... that meant continuing with the stool softeners or paying the price if you forgot... hehehe... I did forget once.. it led to a 'session' where I wasn't sure whether to call for a midwife or scream.. never again..:-)

Let's end this slot here... I'm getting tired.. more follows to complete catch up, then I'll blog it as it happens..:-)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Wow!! it's sure dusty in here..:-)

As any visitor can see it's been a while since I posted here, so I guess this is a fresh start and hopefully life's twists and turns wont get in the way too much...
LOL.. we'll see..:-)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

2008 Seascapes Calendar


The 2008 Seascape Calendar provides a unique opportunity to bring a gallery of artistically presented sea views into Your Home or Office.
Throughout the year, you'll be able to enjoy these artworks and almost sense those pleasurable memories, sounds and smells of the sea.
The calendar has been published by Terry Bassett and is the result of an international collaboration between artists living so far apart as Austria, Brazil, The United Kingdom, Australia and the USA.
It showcases paintings by the following artists: Brigitte Hintner, Celito Medeiros, Colleen Lambert, Jennifer Blenkinsopp, Julie Silvester, Michael Cook, Neil Mawdsley, Steph Salt, Susan Shaw, Terry Bassett, Terry Waites, Theresa Rankin.
Naturally, we all hope you'll buy a copy and demonstrate your support for the independant artists who've created these delightful paintings.

Quick interior shots below






















Sunday, August 05, 2007

Stonehenge 2008-9 Calendar.






A 14 Month Calendar, from January 2008 through to February 2009, showcasing pictures that bring you the magic of Stonehenge in Springtime.
The Calendar's now available at $17.96 from:

Friday, July 06, 2007

Stonehenge Spring 2008 Calendar


This customizable 12 page calendar, is now available in three sizes.

To see details or buy just click on the pic:


Stonehenge Spring Calendar


Friday, February 23, 2007

US Postage Stamps

I've put together a range of US Postage Stamps, which are now available in various denominations..:-)



Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

US Postage Stamps

I've been setting up some stamps.. they'll be available soon..:-)

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Yellow Rock





Finally finished and prints are now available as per the example below:



Click below for more details:

http://terrybassett.com/yellowrock.aspx

Monday, November 27, 2006

Pallette 18


This mixed media work was recently deleted from my portfolio at ArtWanted.com by their moderators.
They felt it was unsuitable for viewing by those visiting their site. I personally find their views on nudity in art to be somewhat childish, but it's their site, shrug..:-)
Fortunately it was up long enough to attract a number of comments from some of the excellent artists who frequent that site.
Luckily I had the foresight to save the comments and I've added them individually, under anon, below.
Should you wish to add your own comment, Please feel free to do so..:-)

Friday, October 20, 2006

4 Horsemen 2



This is another from the series of small studies that I'm completing in preparation for a larger painting of the Four Horsemen.

In this one, I'm experimenting with ideas for portrayal of the horse ridden by Pestilence.
I'm trying to show the horse as having suffered damage and decay through association with its rider.

Although I personally prefer the colour values shown in the lower picture, those in the upper image are likely to be more appropriate for the final painting.


All comments, ideas and suggestions are very welcome..:-)

Misty Livingstone's photograph of 'Gentle Gaze' was used as a reference in this one, to establish the overall outline of the horses head.

Thanks Misty!..:-)

4 Horsemen 1


This is the first in a series of small studies that I'm completing in preparation for a larger painting of the Four Horsemen.

I haven't done anything with horses for many years and, as you can see, need the practice...:-)


Sunday, April 02, 2006

Wood Nymph 4


Added a bit more detail to the figure... pity. but the late afternoon sunshine has made the lower half a bit too light

Wood Nymph 3


A bit more progress.. :-)

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Wood Nymph 2

It's making progress.. :-)

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Wood Nymph 1

Click on pic for larger view..

Just started this one so it's still pretty rough.. It's an Acrylic on a 48" by 48" inch Oak plywood panel.

Monday, January 30, 2006

2006 Occult Authors Market


I'm delighted to say this book cover design has been accepted.. :-)

The 2006 Occult Authors Market is a directory of North American and International book publishers who accept non-agented submissions from those of us who enjoy seeing our work in print.
Listing information includes whether the publisher pays royalties only or an advance against royalties, as available.
The OAM also contains a listing of literary agencies in case you'd like to have your book considered by a major publisher who only looks at projects represented by an agent.
Finally, you can read essays from some of today's leading authors about the state of pagan publishing from academia to the main stream press.

The Book was on sale throughout 2006..

Friday, January 27, 2006

ACEO Cards 2


Here's another set..

Copies of some of my ACEO's are available here:

http://www.artcardswanted.com/artist.cfm?MID=1010

... and I've now started a blog just for ECEO's here:

http://aceocollective.blogspot.com/

Thursday, January 26, 2006

ACEO Cards



I'm putting together some ACEO's.. Collectible Art Cards..


Copies of some of my ACEO's are available here: http://www.artcardswanted.com/artist.cfm?MID=1010

Friday, January 20, 2006

Yellow Rock Prog 1


Well... it's progressing... errrr.. just about. I seem to be having trouble making my mind up what to do with the sky.. Also did some changes to the rock itself, which I think has improved the composition a bit... I think the canvas, ( 18 by 24 inches ), is a bit too small for the subject.. :-)

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Yellow Rock


I guess my comment on the previous post of this picture, "Few tweaks, here and there, and this one's done.. :-)", was premature. If you compare the two images you'll see there's been a lot of changes and there's still a few to come.. :-)

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Soon be Dawn (close-up)

Soon be Dawn


This resulted from digital manipulation of a later photograph of the work in the previous post. I was looking for ways to give the oil a bit of a lift by adjusting the tones, which are on the pale side.
I'm going to put this version on ArtWanted as a print.