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Another Visit to Oncology

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S heila and I had another visit to my oncologist today.  Overall, it was a relatively uneventful visit but there were a few things discussed that I should write about here mostly so I can reference it in the future to refresh my memory before my next appointment.   I should also note that after these specialist visits, I have a flurry of activity in scheduling appointments with other doctors for more exams and tests.  This forces me to acknowledge the seriousness of my health problems which I normally push to the far recesses of my mind as often as possible. During this appointment with my oncologist, we discussed my ongoing problems idiopathic anaphylaxis...  how my body responds, how I have been treating it with medications, frequency, severity, triggers, etc.  On the positive side, I was able to report that although I do continue to experience idiopathic anaphylaxia with no warning, these recent episodes have been manageable and less severe than some pre...
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Still Learning (and Unexpected Computer Problems)

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I n reference to the title of this blog entry...  I'm still learning a lot of things each and every day but, lately, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about a new-to-me medium format camera.   Today I had a bit of a detour though. I was working on doing some basic editing of these two photos, below, so I could post them here in the blog but Photoshop kept crashing on me and telling me that my GPU, OpenCL, OpenGL and DirectX were 'not compatible' with Photoshop.  I knew that was nonsense because I've been using Photoshop on this computer for many months with no problems.  I ended up spending the entire day troubleshooting this problem but I think I finally have resolved this problem which, honestly, should not have happened in today's world.  It was an incredibly frustrating day! I wasn't going to get into any detail about these computer problems but I should add a bit more here so I can reference this if this ever happens again.   I have two gr...
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Camera Size Comparisons

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A fter I wrote about my new-to-me Fuji GFX medium format camera last night, I got to thinking that I should probably add more camera size comparisons since I had written about how small this new Fuji medium format camera is compared to other cameras with smaller sensors.  So, I captured a few more photos this morning. This first photo shows my tiny compact Fuji X30 camera (on left) compared to the new Fuji medium format camera.  This compact Fuji X30 is small enough to easily slip into a coat pocket...   This next comparison is showing a camera that has a sensor that is a bit larger than the above compact camera but now the camera body is almost as large as the Fuji medium format camera!   This is my Panasonic G9 (on right) with its relatively small four-thirds sensor (same as 110 film size) yet the camera bodies are quite similar in size and shape.  The Fuji GFX medium format camera (on left) has a sensor roughly the same as a 6x4.5 film camera so the...
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Fuji Medium Format

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A s I mentioned in this blog many times in the past, I've always wanted to move into medium format digital photography.  Cost is a huge factor but patiently waiting for a decade while keeping an eye on prices daily has helped me slowly acquire a couple of medium format cameras recently.  One camera is an old film camera while the other is a digital camera from 2021.   Twelve years ago, I upgraded into Sony's full frame format and I still love that system.  Even compared to medium format, this Sony system has some significant advantages over medium format.  My Sony camera has great image quality and is ideal for sports, wildlife and fast moving grandchildren so it gets a lot of use and I'll likely never put it to rest anytime soon.  The image quality of this full-frame system is great and it is a fast shooting camera which definitely comes in handy when there are kids often nearby. As good as the images are when captured on full-frame sensors, medium fo...
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Trying to Get Back into Swing of Things

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I really haven't written much nor done much in the past three months or so but I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things now.   Sheila and I had COVID through December and into January and that always takes a lot out of me mostly due to my primary health issues.  Before I even had a chance to recover from COVID, Sheila and I picked up flu-A which, for me, lasted until about two weeks ago.  Sheila felt miserable for only a week or two.  I, however, have had great difficulty getting past these two back-to-back viruses though.  Fortunately and at long last, I'm now feeling as though I can get back into having some fairly productive days...  as much as my other health issues will allow anyway. Over the past couple of weeks, I've spent my few waking hours each day exercising in an attempt to build up my strength and stamina.  I also gained about 12 lbs during this extended period of riding the couch every single day and I definitely want to lose...
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Flu and Health Update

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W e are two solid weeks into having the flu and I still feel like crap.  I'm still coughing and trying to clear out my lungs.  I have a pounding headache especially whenever I cough.  As expected, my breathing is worse than usual too.  My throat is still a bit scratchy and, generally, I feel exhausted and lousy.   Sheila is still coughing too but she seems to be faring a bit better than I am.  My struggles are probably due to my primary illness affecting my mast cells.  Mast cells are the key players in colds and the flu too so my over-active mast cells make things a bit worse whenever I pick up any kind of bug.   Since the flu is also affecting my mast cells, my usual health issues are worse than usual too.  There is no need to get into details on this other than to say my usual symptoms are worse than usual.  Mostly, I'm simply completely worn out as my body tries to fight off the flu. I captured a photo of my thumb this week...
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Flu Still Keeping Us Down

Today is Saturday at the end of a week that has kept both of us struggling with the flu.  The flu still holds a tight grip on both of us and we're still feeling quite lousy.   Sheila's worst day was yesterday, particularly last night.  She had uncontrollable coughing fits for a few hours last night.  We threw a bunch of extra medications at this problem and that seemed to settle her down after another hour or so.  Today, all her muscles from her abs to her upper back are sore from the coughing fits.  She's still struggling with sinus pain, a headache and runny nose.   I'm still struggling with a relentless headache, some sinus pain, coughing and diarrhea.  The worst symptoms are the headache and especially the diarrhea.  Sheila never got the gastrointestinal problems like I did but I could have been dealing with this due to my systemic mastocytosis.  Unfortunately, this is one of my usual symptoms so I deal with this very often...
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This Flu is Brutal and Relentless

I've been sick with the flu all week and Sheila is one day behind me in her symptoms.  It has been a brutal week and I'm still feeling miserable. I can't sleep because the cold medications don't stop the itching, burning, runny nose.  The persistent cough is brutal too.  My eyes are watery and burning.  I have waves of violent shivering, fever and nausea.  I haven't eaten much this week and yet I've spent a lot of time in the bathroom sick as a dog.  Every part of my body is in pain but especially my sinuses.  Sneezing and coughing hurts in the center of my chest.  The itching, burning and runny nose is relentless and brutal though.  Worse yet, the cold medications can't seem to knock any of this down enough to get some much-needed rest and sleep. I'm exhausted...  I'm weak...  I'm in significant pain...  this week has been bordering on unbearable.  
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From COVID Directly Into Flu

W e finally had our family Christmas celebration at our house over this past weekend.  We had to reschedule it because Sheila and I had COVID from before Christmas and well into January.  Unfortunately, almost every one of us who attended this last Christmas party at our house is now sick with a terrible case of the flu.  My guess is that every single one of us will be sick within another couple of days.   I feel miserable.  I felt rather lousy yesterday too but, by last night, I was feeling pretty miserable.  Now I'd say I'm feeling overwhelmingly miserable.  Sheila is about a half day or a full day behind me.   I'm not sure which is worse...  the flu or COVID...  COVID lasts forever and it's still quite painful but this flu is brutal at this point.  Everything hurts.  I have chest congestion.  I have a massive headache.  I have a painful sore throat.  My sinuses are burning.  I'm dizzy, nauseate...
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A Quick Morning Sketch

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I have a long list of things that need to be done around the house but I'm still recovering from our latest bout with COVID so I don't really have the energy for much. I've been sick for over a month at this point so this is now very much beyond old.  I feel like I've been sick with COVID every summer and every winter since the pandemic started!  And, with each bout, I'm down and feeling lousy for at least a month.  Breathing problems are the biggest complaint but losing two+ months each year is frustrating. Our Christmas celebration with the grandchildren is this coming weekend after cancelling Christmas due to being sick last month so there really is a lot that needs to be accomplished around the house.  Actually, now that I'm thinking about what needs to be done, I have some cooking to do too.  Uggg...  I'll have to get started on that tomorrow.   In the meantime, I took a little time this morning to do some sketching.  I haven't sketched...
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