Session three over

Very disappointed when I got to the hospital on Wednesday to find that someone else was sitting in MY chair... :-) One can get very possessive about these things and it just wasn't right sitting on the other side of the room. Especially when the young woman in the chair next to mine ended up having 6 visitors and a party... Anyway...

Not been quite so bad this time. Although I only got a couple of hours sleep on Wednesday night, and dozed through Thursday night, last night (Friday) wasn't so bad. Two cups of Red Bush tea, a Nytol and a hay-fever tablet seem to have done the trick.

Went to see the GP yesterday afternoon, as he asked me when I was first diagnosed to keep him up to date with what's going on. Otherwise, all he knows is when he gets copied into odd letters from various consultants. As I expected, I know more about this and the treatment, than he does, but that's OK. He has to know a bit about everything, then pass it up to the specialists. He did agree, though, that something like this needs to be seen as a long term problem, as opposed to an acute issue, and we discussed the fact that there are all sorts of treatments coming through that should be ready for me in 5 or 10 years time if I need them. He said that HIV is now basically just a long term condition and no longer progresses to AIDS, provided you live in the West and keep taking your tablets, and to a certain extent, this is where I am going. Keep taking the tablets.

I updated the website yesterday, so if you want to see what's been done, just go to http://www.andybarton.com and see for yourself. I have had a bit of a cull and a complete overhaul using iWeb. I would be pleased to know what you think.

Back in "the chair" again this week...

Ding ding, Round 3.

My next round of treatment (Nr 3 of probably 8) is this Wednesday. If there are eight sessions, then I finish them all in early July. Which is a long time away.

I am determined that, this time, the steroids are not going to get the better of me. I wasn't expecting that reaction last time round, so I am prepared for it this week. More walks with the dog. That's the answer.

But, keeping positive... We have booked a fortnight in Skye in September which is going to be terrific. We haven't had more than a week on one of the Scottish Islands before and we've never been to Skye, so this is going to be very interesting.

We also have a few days in Venice sorted for the competition, staying in an apartment with a couple of very good friends, so it will be great to see them again too. And, I might see if we can get a few days in June if the quack only gives me 6 sessions instead of the 8. Flying will be out of the question, but maybe a couple of days in Bristol (we keep talking about it) or down on the South Coast could be a good short break.

Might even get the tent out...

Back on an even keel now

Finally slept OK on Sunday night, but felt like I had jetlag on Monday. Since I had a box of paperwork with me, I decided to work from home.

Had a very nice lunch at Il Forno with Ed, then promptly fell asleep when I got home. I must have needed it. I just hope that things don't progress along these lines for the rest if the Spring, as it ends up taking out one week in three if you're not careful. But, as my HR Manager reminded me yesterday, I need to look after Number One this year

So, that's why I got up at 05:15 this morning to get a train to London to meet with British Telecom to tell them how crap their support services are :-) When I get back to NW, we are showing a judging panel around one of my projects, as it's on the shortlist for an award. Fingers crossed...

She did tell me to take as much time off as I need over the coming months, though, so I think I will take her up on that offer.

Other news? I was lucky enough to gave two shots chosen for the Leica Forum Book. The one I thought would get in didn't, and one I was less sure of did. Happy with that of course. Now we are collecting all of the high res copies of the shots and then can put the book together. Going to be a big job

No news from my new friend who wanted to use my photograph for nothing, unsurprisingly.

Day 24

Very, very tired and have been all day.

Goodness only knows what I'll be like on Monday.

Second session

OK, so I had the second session on Wednesday. While it didn't take quite so long as the first, I was still there from 08:30 until 16:30 and I suspect that it will be an all day session from now until the end. The length of time is due to them having to make up the Rituximab individually, due to the cost, so that doesn't arrive until after lunch.

Feeling much more tired this time round. I couldn't get to sleep last night until about 04:00 and the alarm went off at 6, so I can feel a snooze coming on this afternoon. Even the Red Bush tea wasn't sufficient to knock me out :-) I am convinced that it's the steroid that's doing it. I seem to be having a different reaction to it this time round. I am feeling much more tense than I did three weeks ago.

Maybe this interesting email I received from someone yesterday, has something to do with it:

My name is xxxxxx xxxxx and I am writing from xxxxx, xxxxx. We have plasma screens in our office that we use as an internal notice board and I am wondering if you would mind if we used one of your photos on these screens as we don't have any images of the waterfront and a colleague of mine has recommended your work. The image we would like to use is: http://www.andybarton.com/3gsm.jpg

Unfortunately we do not have a budget to offer you anything for this as it is for internal use only but would love to use your work as it would be a great way to localise what we have on there and we really like your composition and love the mood of the image.

I look forward to your reply


The photograph is the "Photograph of the week" on the right, btw.

Whilst I am flattered that such a large company should want to use some of my work in their UL Head Office, I am extremely disappointed that they should think that they could use it for nothing. I wrote back and told him that I would be very happy to negotiate a price for him to use this should he so wish, but am not willing to part with it for nothing. Damned cheek.

I will post here should I ever receive a reply from them, which I doubt.

So, I think I will have to take it easy this weekend.