Just a note from holtieshouse

G'day, time for another quick post.
My cancer treatment program, radiation and chemotherapy, is just over the halfway mark and to date i have had no adverse side effects, they caution me that there is still time for these to kick in but I'm choosing to believe that I might dodge that particular bullet.
Again I am indebted to my family and friends for their support over the past couple of months, without them I can't even imagine what my life would have become, the current carer is my youngest son Bruce he relieved my good mate Warren who in turn had offered to come up so that Vicki could have a break, she returns at the end of the week so Bruce can go home and back to work, between them all we have been a great support to our airlines!!!!!
For any of you who read this and are my sister Merle's friends I'm sad to say I think her blogging days might be over, she is quite well in  herself but can't summon up the energy to get back to blogging, this is sad because she really loved her blog and the circle of friends she made from it.
Queensland has been experiencing a lot of rain again, not the torrential  variety that causes flooding, just the sort that grinds you down and becomes a bloody pest, its harder to remain upbeat when the sky is always cloudy and grey.
Don't get the idea from this Gripping post that I'm giving up on life, far from it, as the time passes I'm more and more confident that my number isn't up just yet.
For those who read this I thank you for your support and perseverance.

Peter.

A medical update

Hi to all, my dear friend Judy has reminded me that it was time for another post, it is gratifying to know that there are people who actually care about how I am coping with my Cancer, thankyou.
My treatment was delayed for a week for various medical reasons that I don't really understand and would make boring reading for you, suffice to say that today (Tuesday March 19) was my second day of treatment, radiation and chemotherapy, the course is for 28 days of treatments spread over about 38 days, so far it has been painless and without any side effects.
My family have been the cornerstones of my survival and I just haven't got the words to express my thanks for their love and devotion, when the news broke Vicki and Marcus were on the next plane to Queensland to give me comfort and support, Marcus then had to fly back 4 days later to return to work, Vicki stayed on as Chauffeur and nurse for the following week until my oldesrt son Alan was able to fly in from WA, while he assumed these duties for a week Vicki was able to spend a week officially moving into her new home in Victoria.
As I write this Marcus is once more on a plane to Queensland, he is here for a week this time and Vicki and I have been discussing whether she should take advantage of his visit to get a few more days to organize her home.... and life.
There is another couple to thank for their help with a loan car for all these interstate visitors getting to and from the airport (Gympie is 190 Klms from the airport) and they, Susan and Steven have made it all possible, Susan is the oldest daughter of my lifelong friends Neil and Joan, always on my visiting list when I go to WA, again I find I don't have the words to thank S&S enough.
To finish of this brief post, I am feeling quite well and confident, I have no pain to speak of and apart from the vacuum wound dressing portable machine which goes everywhere that I go, a bottle of my particular chemo mixture connected to a Pic line in my right arm just above the elbow which must NEVER be allowed to get wet... imagine if you will me showering with an arm wrapped in gladwrap and my Colostomy bag stuck to my abdomen.... on second thoughts perhaps you might prefer to skip that particular image.
Thank you all once again for your thoughts and prayers it means more than I'll ever be able to say to have you out there caring.

Peter    

A New Life

Hello to all my very good friends from a very humble recipient of all the love and caring I have been getting lately, being ill is pretty much a new sensation for me as I have been blessed with good health all my life.

I felt it might be an opportune time to jot down a few of my feelings and thoughts, these will be in random order as they occur to me rather than an orderly list... much like my life has been.

The obvious first thing is the mix of fears and emotions that the news that the bowel obstruction you have is "Cancer", still in my mind more of a sentence than a word, and it would take a braver man than I to hear this without "fear" being a part of what you felt.

I'll repeat.... my health has always been good and until this last 10 days I had never spent a night in hospital, if you chose to you could say that translated into "I had never before been totally humiliated" I was pushed and prodded in places that should remain sacred, I had tubes, digits and various pieces of equipment inserted into these same areas, one of these insertions was enough to clear the obstruction (Cancer??) in my bowel which in turn led to the worst night of humiliation of my life, during that night I managed to soil myself 13 times creating an unofficial Nambour Hospital record!!!!

The other side of hospital culture which I knew nothing about was the absolute dedication and caring so generously given by all the staff members that I came into contact with.

Then there was the strength and cheerful acceptance of their lot by long term patients who had been through more in their sometimes short lives than it seems anyone should have to.

As the last few paragraphs should show this has been a learning experience for me and while its true to say I would very much have preferred not to have been here it has been a strengthening process that will be of a long term benefit.

Then there was the humor!!! from Cleaners, Wards men, Nurses both male and female, in short from almost everyone you contacted, made you smile or often laugh out loud at a time in your life when you felt less inclined to laugh, especially after abdominal surgery!!!

Above all else has been the love and devotion shown by my family and friends, how can you say thank you for love like this??

The preparation and treatment period begins early next week and I have no idea whether this will leave me inclined to more posts about the progress I'm making or not... time will tell.

Again I thank you for your concerns, well wishes and prayers.

Peter.   

Holtie Health Update

Marcus here again with an update on Pop's condition.

On the plus side: He has been a bit better each day and is likely to come home early next week.

On the minus side: The Dr has confirmed that Dad has bowel cancer. However, they are optimistic that it hasn't spread and can be treated. First with radiation and chemo followed by further surgery to remove the tumour. This will happen over the next 3-4 weeks we think.

Vicki will stay on while he undergoes those treatments. I have to get back to work so I'm flying home on Monday morning.

Pop has been very touched by the well wishes and expressions of love and support from family and friends. He is still prone to tiredness and has little appetite at this stage. It has been a very traumatic and emotional few days and at times he feels a bit over-whelmed. We are very glad we've been able to come up and be with him and we know he appreciates us being here.

Marcus

All's Not Well at Holties House

Hi. This is Marcus, Peter's son just updating Dad's blog.

Peter is in hospital following emergency bowel surgery. He went to hospital on Sunday night and they transferred him to nearby Nambour hospital where they operated on Monday.

We are not sure what the prognosis is for the immediate future, hopefully we'll have a better idea in a day or two.

My sister Vicki and I flew up to Queensland yesterday and saw him at the hospital yesterday evening. He was in pretty good spirits and not experiencing any pain but is weak and tired and will need a fair while to recuperate. It was pretty emotional for all of us to see him under those circumstances. He normally enjoys very good health.

I will provide updates on Holties House once we know more.

On The Road Again

I'm doing my Willie Nelson impersonation, no not the one with prohibited substances, I'm "on the road again", I'm visiting with my Sister at present... she has been having her share of problems again, a couple of falls in pretty rapid succession and is quite frail and shaky still, there's always something isn't there.

The next couple of weeks are pretty well booked up visiting friends and family, the friends range between 30/50 year friendships so its always a pleasant time when we can sit back and swap stories... true or otherwise!!!!

Will also spend time with Son Marcus and Family and Daughter Vicki so there are plenty of good times coming up in my world in the near future.

Australia is experiencing its hottest weather (on a whole nation basis) on record, this translates into Bushfires (Wildfires) throughout the 4 Eastern States, there has been anywhere between a dozen and a hundred fires blazing on any given day for the last 2 weeks.

Some of my Australian readers (if there are any left) will be pleased to here that I spent a few pleasant hours catching up with WT ( of a dingo's got my Barbie fame) I hadn't heard much from Peter for quite some time so was very pleased to find him in excellent health and spirits, this was not the case when I saw him last.

Well for an almost non-blogger that's about all for now I hope your New Year has started out as well as mine and will see you in cyberspace again soon???

Nearly Christmas.

G'Day to anyone who has persevered with my blog while I have been absent, I felt a need to come by at least this one time (who knows what the future will bring?) and with the approach of Christmas what better chance, we will not go into the "Christmas" issue and whether it offends some people by celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, suffice to say if this is the case Please stop reading NOW.
I have always been an advocate for the home cooked traditional fare at Christmas, but that was in the time that I wasn't the one doing the home cooking, not that I mind cooking... I'm just not very good at it and

don't have the patience for the finishing touches that can make the meal look so good.
I told you all that so that I can explain the store bought items in the photos, we start with a 700 gram "Coles" Christmas Pudding which they describe as 'A moist pudding bursting with 40% fruit and a dash of brandy' I can only agree with this description, and for the bargain price of $4.80 for 5 generous servings, topped with "Pauls" Brandy Custard at $4.20, a dessert fit for a king.

To wash this down a white sweet wine, Riccadonna Asti, which is an Italian wine they describe as 'sweet smooth and soft' again a description I would have to agree with, I go a little further and describe it as nectar of the gods, there are lots of excellent Australian wines that I often choose before Riccadonna but for that special occasion that's where I go , at $14.00 a bottle its good value too.
 I'm going to finish this post with my very best wishes to all the people I class as my friends, I hope your Christmas and the New Year are filled with joy, happiness and good health.

From your Aussie friend, Peter.

A Year of Poetry

It will come as no surprise, to anyone who has been a reader here for any time, that I am a lover of poetry (among other things) so I was delighted to learn of a blog from the UK being written by Stephen Saunders.
Stephens blog premise is based loosely on the movie Julie & Julia, you can read  more of this at the beginning of his blog if you haven't seen the movie, his challenge is to write 365 poems in 365 days, a poem a day for a year!!!!
This is a huge task, I wish him well and I am following the progress with interest and admiration, when you have some time to spare have a look at this blog.

http://stephenofbowleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/

Same pictures... different post

 I have a new photo optimizing program from Ashampoo oddly enough called "Ashampoo Photo Optimizer", I am enjoying tinkering with this program and decided to see if it would bring more life and reality to the photos in my last post.
I think the results speak for themselves but you must remember that I have been in the area depicted and know the colours of the Australian outback have always looked "overdone" to eyes that have not seem them ' in the flesh' so to speak, the red soil and the vivid colour that exist here are probably not repeated anywhere else on earth.
My only disappointment is that the vivid blue of the sky was not reproduced, no doubt it was clouded by the dust created by all those hooves and tyres but also in the strengthening of other  features the blue was weakened.
I will be interested to hear comments from others in the comparison of the photos in these two posts.

Moving cattle in Australia.

Only in Australia will you see this. Road Trains This is a recent email sent regarding the cattle trains at Helen Springs Station. There are interesting statistics.   There are 17 trucks with 3 trailers and 2 decks per trailer; Therefore there are 102 decks of cattle and there would be approximately 28 cattle per deck; This totals 2,856 head of cattle The cattle will weigh approximately 500kg each (1102.3 lbs.) The sale price for cattle at Longreach is approx. 165c/kg (75c/lb.) Each animal will therefore be sold at $825. Total revenue from this analysis is $2,356,200 Another interesting fact: Each trailer has 24 tyres plus a dolly with 8 tyres The truck plus lead trailer have 12 tyres plus a dolly with 8 tyres and 10 tyres on the truck For the 72 truck/trailer combos there are 6,192 tyres on the road Road trains loading cattle at Helen Springs Station, north of Tennant Creek NT. Now That's A Road Train