imroy's avatar

imroy

Ian Tester
37 Watchers270 Deviations
27.4K
Pageviews
I'm having continued problems with my rear-end. The abscess that flared up at the end of January and responded to antibiotics kinda returned. But just like last time, it settled down a day or two before I saw my surgeon, only this time I wasn't on antibiotics. He's a bit perplexed about what's going on and wants me to have some examinations. In April I'm off to Concord Hospital (inner-west suburb of Sydney) to have an endoscopic ultrasound of the area. But before then I'm having a colonoscopy because the surgeon is wondering if there's something "up stream" that's coming down and causing the infections. That's on Thursday. So tomorrow I begin the fun job of preparing by fasting and purging. I've got this stuff called "picoprep" (sodium picosulphate) that causes a big case of the squirts so that my guts are cleared out when I get probed. Oh, and it'll be under general anaesthetic, so I get another damn catheter. I hate needles and I hate recovering from anaesthetic.

In other news, I have a new phone! This is my second phone ever, after using a Nokia 5220 XpressMusic for almost 2 whole years. I've replaced that with a Motorola Milestone (for U.S. readers, essentially the Verizon Droid). Yes, it's not really a new phone. It's over a year old and the Milestone 2 has been out a little while. But that makes it cheaper, much more so because I bought a second-hand unit. I didn't want to give money to Motorola because they've locked down the boot-loader and kernel, and told people to buy elsewhere if they wanted to mod phones. I was really wanting a hardware keyboard though and there's not many of them about. The only other good phone with a keyboard seems to be the HTC Desire Z, but that is still quite new and hence pricey. So I decided on the Milestone, but to buy second-hand to avoid rewarding Motorola's behaviour. And now it looks like their signing key may have been found, opening the way for complete modding anyway! some arsehole claimed to have found the key to troll us.

So I have my first Android phone. The stock 2.1 firmware only lasted a few hours before I installed Cronos Froyo (2.2). You see, the boot-loader and kernel may be locked down, but everything else is replaceable once the system has been rooted. Then it was onto Cronos Ginger (2.3), but that was unstable and buggy. So I've been running CyanogenMod 7 release candidates since then (Cronos is based on CM anyway). And installing lots of apps. And adjusting overclocking settings, and more recently memory manager (lowmemkiller) settings. It's been a great toy and I've even used it as a phone to make a few calls! Oh, and the hardware keyboard is worth it. It has its own problems, but I prefer it greatly over the on-screen keyboard. The screen is great too. Higher resolution than my Dad's iPhone 3G S!

The only photography news I can report on is travelling down to Bateman's Bay to visit my brother Glenn and his wife Tania. It's been almost two years since we were last there! I shot two thirds of a roll of Velvia 50 in my Electro 35 on the beaches and cliffs over a weekend. I really need to finish this roll because I already have three other E-6 rolls to send off for processing. Oh, and a few 220 rolls too, since I can't get them processed locally any more.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Ooh, I'd better write a new journal to get that last one off my front page. I really must move on from my bottom problems and get on with my life. Speaking of which, I developed another abscess at the end of January but it was a small one and thankfully seemed to have responded to the antibiotics I was given. It flared up just as my surgeon was coming back from holidays and it had settled down the day before I went to see him. He didn't paint a good picture however; he doesn't know why I'm having these problems and there's probably nothing I can do to stop anything developing in the future :(
For now it seems to be behaving itself though...

Christmas was kinda boring and seemed to finish very quickly. We got to see Scott and his girlfriend Shannon (who he's been living with for a while now). It was only a few days though. Andrew and Alissa visited most days with the kids. Boy, they're a handful.

I also visited Scott in Canberra with Mum and Dad for his birthday. It was just after my abscess was diagnosed and I didn't know if I'd end up in hospital soon, so I was very reluctant to go. My first abscess happened when we visited him last year for a late birthday get-together. I don't want this to become a tradition - getting an abscess that is. I'm fine with visiting Scott, although I sometimes feel like we've done everything there that's worth to do.

I've shot a good amount of film recently. While in Canberra we went up Black Mountain Tower and I got twelve photos around the viewing gallery with the Flektogon 50 mm lens on my Pentacon Six. If they turn out well, I'll be able to stitch them together into a 360° panorama. But I fear the film advance mechanism might have slipped while winding on one of the shots. I need a more reliable MF camera.

This past weekend was the Bathurst 12 Hour race up at Mount Panorama. Andrew had gotten me a three day ticket for the event, so I got to go and photograph some great cars. Like my experience with FoSC last year, I just don't have the lens(es) or camera(s) for photographing the cars in action - no long lens, no autofocus, no motor winder. So I mainly shoot the cars in the pits and the "paddock" behind the pits.

Friday and Saturday had a bunch of support events - Class A, C, and N, Formula Vee, and Holden HQ's doing practices, qualifying, and a few races. The pit garages were reserved for the 12 Hour teams, so these guys were setup in the paddock area under collapsible shelters. I got some photos of them there, but not as much I should have. Andrew dragged me up to the top of the mount on Saturday, so I didn't shoot much up there. Oh, and it was hot. Up to 35°C (95°F) in the middle of the day. Saturday at least had some wind.

The 12 Hour race started at 6:15 in the morning. I made a special effort to get up just after 4 to get ready, so that Andrew could pick me up at 5 and get up to the track before it started. I took my Pentacon Six and shot some Delta 3200 in the dark and the growing pre-dawn light. I got some nice photos of the pits, both from across the track and from behind.

I've processed one roll of FP4+ and the two rolls of Delta 3200. I still have another roll of FP4+ in my Electro 35 and a roll of Superia in my XR-20 to finish. Then I have four rolls of 120/220 (three C-41, one E-6) and three rolls of 135 slide film to send off to Sydney for processing. So I figure I have ~240 or more photos coming my way after it's all processed and scanned.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In

Anus horribilis

3 min read
(for those who don't get the reference: Annus horribilis)

Well this is the time of year when we all look back on the year that was and reflect on what happened. For me, one part of my anatomy has drawn my focus for much of this year. The anal abscess in March was the beginning, followed by many months of niggling aches and pains. After bugging my GP several times in August and September, my surgeon found a fistula in October but it burst painlessly days before surgery and the IV/anaesthesia ended up being for naught. Then something flared up just before my birthday in November, so I had an MRI (which tuned up nothing of worry). Another inspection turned up a new fistula (or a return of the previous one?) which was cut open at the beginning of the month. So here I am, nursing a long (but shrinking) gash that leads into my anus, waiting for it to heal. Going "number two" is now a well-practised (and necessary) series of actions to keep it clean. A welcome improvement is that it no longer stings with eye-watering intensity after I take a shit. Hopefully this is the end of my rear-end problems for now.

Unfortunately all of this has impacted my photo-taking and photo-making activities. I'm crap at organising myself, especially my "artistic" endeavours. I tend to do things only when I "feel like it" (yes, even when I was employed). So something that interrupted not only my day-to-day activities but also my thoughts on a regular basis, really screwed me up. I should have been out more taking photos and perhaps even trying to sell them. I should have been scanning more slides and negatives for the family to earn money. I should have been working towards getting my drivers' license. Maybe I wouldn't have done any of those things anyway without the "bottom problems" serving as a regular distraction, but it certainly didn't help.

In Christmas news, I've bought my niece and nephew some presents this year. They're getting a Doctor Who poster and solar-charged LED torch (flash light) each. I chose two posters from a seller on eBay but I'm not sure who should get which one. Not even their parents offered any help. Hopefully Sarah and Zac will be able to agree on who gets the David Tennant poster, and who gets the Dalek one. With the lamination they ended up being a bit more expensive than I originally wanted to spend on them. They should like them.

I close this entry with some advice: Look after your health, everyone!
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
(but money, presents, and lollies will still be accepted)

Ugh. I'm going into surgery again tomorrow for essentially the same thing as last time. This fistula is a lot smaller and just under the skin. It hasn't formed a boil-like body of puss like the last one. The surgeon said he'll check it before I go into the operating theatre to see if it's healed itself up like the last one did. With any luck, it will have healed and I can go home (hopefully without an IV too!). Otherwise he'll probably cut it open, which will make going to the toilet difficult. And the anaesthetic will leave me useless until Friday afternoon, at least.

This all assumes the highway remains open after all the rain we've received the last few days.

In other news, I finally have a new monitor! I've replaced my 10 year old Hitachi CM771 with a Samsung 2443BW+. It's nice and big, and it swivels into portrait aspect - although I haven't found out how to make the screen contents rotate automatically, or even if it signals the computer when it's rotated. The touch-activated controls are annoying; I've already screwed up the settings once by accidentally touching them while adjusting the screen.

I hope you're enjoying the photos from the Motor Show. I figure because it was a special event that I should publish the photos now instead of leaving them in my every growing queue of photos.

Update: The highway was still mostly open and the surgeon did cut open the shallow passage. I told the anaesthesiologist about the dizzyness and nausea after my visit in October and he decided to use a different anaesthetic - Propofol. Yeah, the stuff Michael Jackson liked so much. The after-effects have been almost non-existent. I came home, ate, talked on IM with Tania, worked on my scan of the Hulme CanAm (cropped, cleaned up dust, chose a tone) and uploaded it here and on Flickr. I went to the toilet and had trouble wiping my bum because it was numb. It's been 6 hours now and I'm not sure if the pain-killers have fully worn off yet. I have a bit of discomfort but barely what I would call "painful". So I'm doing pretty well so far. I was given a prescription for Paracetamol-Codeine so I'm wondering if/when I'll need it.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
I'll write a little about my surgery and that will hopefully the end of my "bottom problems". I'll try to write about other things that are going on in my life (and mind) soon in another journal post.

I went in for surgery on Thursday. I hate needles and anaesthetic, so I was pretty anxious about the whole thing. But in the end the surgeon didn't actually do much. The outside end of the fistula had burst on the previous Sunday. So all he did was give me an "inspection" and pump me full of antibiotics. The anaesthetic left me useless for the rest of the day - I was really dizzy and sitting up made me nauseous so I napped in the spare bedroom. I wasn't too good most of the next day either.

I don't know how quickly the fistula is supposed to heal. And I still have occasional "internal" pains which worry me. I'm hoping they're just scar pains and not something the surgeon overlooked which will require further surgery.
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Featured

In I go again... by imroy, journal

Mostly better, Christmas, Canberra, and 12 Hour! by imroy, journal

Anus horribilis by imroy, journal

All I want for christmas is a fixed rear end by imroy, journal

A whole lot of... nothing? by imroy, journal