2012 in Review (for me)

It's time to write another post, as you can see, regularity is hard to achieve these days.  A lot has happened this year.  I suppose first off was the operation to remove my remaining testicle.  This happened on 17 January 2012 (my 47th birthday, in fact).  This was uncanny as the first testicle was removed on 15 July 2008, which was DAD'S birthday!

All went well from that (and unlike the first time, I wasn't concerned at all they'd remove the wrong one), and Sharon and I went on a cruise to New Zealand, stopping at Bay of Islands, Auckland, Napier, Tauranga, Wellington, Christchurch (Akaroa) and Dunedin (Port Chalmers).  We also cruised through three fjords (although they call them "sounds" - however a sound is caused by a river, a fjord is caused by a glacier, which is how they got them in the south of New Zealand).  I had a ball, and would go again tomorrow.  After this, I was scheduled for a single dose of chemotherapy (cisplatin, BTW) which happened in late March.


A fellow RNS patient, Mark  (who was an emergency dep't doctor at RPA) and his dad.  We got on so well.  Mark came off his pushbike going down Bobbin Head Road, breaking many vertebrae and ribs.  He was out before me.

Come early April, I could hardly walk.  My lower back was causing agony.  I checked into Gosford Hospital in severe pain on 23 April.  After Anzac Day I was transferred to Royal North Shore, as they HAD a spinal unit, not Gosford.  After some painstaking work by a team of microbiologists, it was found that an infection I picked up during my 3 month stay (February-April 2009) called candida glabrata was still in my system, and had in fact been there all along (ie for then 3 and a bit years).  It had gotten into the bones, and left lumbar vertebrae Nos 3 & 4 looking like rusty nuts.  The candida strain is a type of fungus, incidentally, and a relative of C. glabrata causes thrush.

Treatment was to be intravenous (IV) infusions of a drug called caspofungin which cost nearly $800 a vial (ie per day).  I started on 2 May, and went through to 2 June, getting 31 treatments.  I was started the drug on the ward, but eventually discharged, and visited a fantastic operation at Gosford Hospital called "APAC" - Acute Post-acute Care.  What APAC means is that you've been in hospital having acute care, and now you keep getting that acute care after discharge.

After the IV treatment, I started an oral medication called posaconazole which is quite new.  $800 a bottle, although you get ten doses (5 days) out of a bottle.  After three weeks I saw my Microbiologist at Gosford for a scheduled follow-up - he said a lot of damage may have already been caused, and the pain I was still getting may be due to that; or the fungal infection was still there.

After another three weeks I saw him again and said I was worse.  He said, the new medicine would take time.  Well, after another three weeks the pain was so bad I called an ambulance and went into Emergency at Gosford Hospital (yet again).  I went in at about 10:30am, via ambulance, and come 6pm I was finally admitted to Medical Ward 2 (which is in a new part of the hospital, so quite nice.  I'd been in M1 in April, which is a sister ward, next door - also new).  The nurse who arranged for me to get a couple of oxy-contin at about 2pm is to be very highly commended.  I really needed it then, as I'd dosed up before leaving home but it was definitely wearing off.  In the next week or so, after eventually taking an MRI and a brown fluid sample (where fluid is taken from the spine under CAT-scan guidance), it was found the infection was still well and truly present.

So I started back on IV infusions of caspofungin. I had a bit of a problem with the PICC line, which had to be removed and re-installed, and this happened on 24 August.  Later that afternoon, Sharon came to visit and told me she'd packed up all her stuff and moved out.  She'd been planning it for months, and today was the day she had intended to separate, for what might have been three or more months.  The house she was moving into (being bought by her Mum & Dad) settled and they'd been given the key.  It was a bit rough that I was still in great pain and in hospital, but there must be fifty ways to leave your lover and this was the way she'd chosen.  In retrospect it could have been much worse.

Three days later, the doctor asked me if I wanted to go home.  I was still really crook, and had I not been a "separationist" I would have stayed in hospital (gee, I'll be a "divorcee" in a year or so).  I had three oedemas - one on my left arm, from the first faulty PICC installation, and both legs were also huge, apparently a side-effect of the anti-fungal medication.  But at this juncture in time I came home (Mum and Dad drove me back, very thankfully).  I was depressed for about a month, which peaked on 27 September (our 14th Wedding Anniversary).

RIP, Pete.

What didn't help was the sudden death of my best mate, Peter Nicolas on Tuesday 4 September.  Pete was really crook - I had rung him while in hospital to say hello and he sounded worse than me.  When I got out, I finally got up to see him on Thursday 30 August and I found him lying in his chair and hardly able to move.  I came back to see him Saturday night, and he seemed a bit better.  On Sunday morning at about 4am he called an ambulance, the hospital X-rayed him, took a biopsy, said he had a 10cm malignant mass on his lungs, and he was dead two days later.  I had the unique privelege of reading his eulogy at the funeral.



Mindaree Avenue Wyoming.  Yep I
go down and up - without stopping!
 Lens foreshortens the slope, I reckon.

 About this time I realised I needed to do something about my weight, which had crept up to 120kg.  I had never been this heavy before.  So I started walking around this area, which is incredibly hilly.  Well the first time I did the circuit, it took 23 minutes. After a week straight I had it down to 18 minutes, BUT my right knee had been killed in the process due to the underlying arthritis.

So I reluctantly gave up walking, and decided to do exercise whereby I'd gain something.   I figured if I kept walking around the circuit, I'd get better at walking around the circuit, which is not very helpful in practical terms. So for the next few days I was gardening.  I even removed the stump of the dead lemon tree from the ground.  I then didn't like the finish, so I ground down the stump using a circular saw the next day, and now you wouldn't even know it was there!

This was still proving to be a bit hard on the arthritic joints, so I grabbed out the guitars (an Aldi-brand $99.95 steel-string acoustic with an inbuilt pickup and output control, plus my 35-year old Hayakawa starburst colour Stratocaster copy).  When I first started playing, which would have been mid-October I couldn't play an entire song.  My left wrist and the fingers were not up to it and needed to build up.  When I played the first full song, I yelped in tears with the triumph.

Well, the exercise you get from playing guitar is nothing short of aerobic.  I'd be in a lather of sweat.  Eventually I could play for an hour.  I started looking for repertoire.  "Wake Up, Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers is a fine aerobic workout.  "Khe Sanh" is a big effort, same as doing all of "American Pie" (unlike Madonna, who does an 8-1/2 minute song in 3-1/2).

On the weight side, I'm now 105kg, meaning a 15 kg loss (12.5% of body weight), which has been lost in 11 weeks.  This is very noticeable now.  Imagine carrying eight 2kg bags of sugar in two shopping bags, four sugars in each hand.  Big effort to get that back to the car, eh?  I was carrying that much around with me daily.  Anyway, the weight loss is going to be permanent, as my stomach has shrunk.  I'm lucky to get through a single entree sized dish now; I went to a dinner in December for Wyong Drama Group, and had three mounthfuls of the main after finishing the entree.  So the weight loss will continue in 2013 - far better than a resolution - I've alread STARTED doing it before New Year.


My Music Nook

 And on the guitar side:  I'm now a professional Busker.  I went out to Wyoming shops on 5 December and played and sung for about an hour.  Security came and told me to leave.  So I went to Gosford and played and sung for about an hour and a half.  I came home with $23 and I was hooked.  Suggestions were made that I should go to Terrigal, so I went out on the Friday night (7th December), and came back with over $150.  Wow.

After being out now for 12 sessions, my average is $32 an hour.  One night I got $60.69 an hour.  Last time I went out, I got $50 in NOTES - 8 x $5 and a $10!!  I'm refining the repertoire all the time.  I try to only do "money" songs now.  Something someone will hear, think to themselves "I love this song" and are inspired to put in money.  There's a lot of 70s stuff in that repertoire, but I do do Kasey Chambers's "Am I Not Pretty Enough" (which is truly a local song, written at North Avoca) and the Missy Higgins "Scar".  But things like "Mr Bojangles", "Standing on the Inside", "Harley and Rose" and "Sweet Caroline" are more the usual fare.  I do "Cows with Guns" as well sometimes :-).  I can play guitar and sing for over five hours straight now.  The exercise is brilliant.  Plus I've written a song or two which I must do something about soon.

That's my year in a nutshell.  I still get incredible pain on waking up each morning as there's a nerve getting pinched somewhere around the hips.  I am still going to the hospital every day to get an IV infusion (I've had over 150 now at great expense to the taxpayer).  I still can't really sleep in a bed - the Jason recliner-rocker is getting a good workout.  But I've never been happier.  I can't believe how I've been given this musical gift which is now bringing joy to the people of Terrigal, and they're rewarding me for it.

I have a talent, a wonderful thing, 'cos everyone listens when I start to sing, I'm so grateful and proud - all I want is to sing it out loud, so I say "Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing.  Thanks for all the joy they're bringing.  Who can live without it?" I ask in all honesty: "What would life be?  Without a song or a dance, what are we?" So I say "Thank you for the music, for giving it to me".

Busking - the return of the native

Went out last night. It was pretty quiet, but I went 3hrs45, adding Fielding & Dyer's "The Whale" (Bend yer backs & row me lads & take me to me whale..) and "I Still Call Australia Home".


Back out again tonight with George Harrison "I've got my mind set on you" and Elvis Costello's "Veronica" - which despite being a really boppy tune, is about his grandmother who has Alzheimer's and can't even remember her name "Veronica", etc. (Check the lyrics)

Salt water gargles are doing the trick. 3-4 times a day :-)

Busking - three diminished chords - LARYNGITIS!

Well after busking Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun last week (5 nights straight), and singing all roles to the Rocky Horror Show (including Janet) on the way back in the car on Sunday, I didn't really notice much on Monday, but come Christmas Day I had bad laryngitis. Couldn't get any high notes AT ALL.


So I've been gargling salt water, taking vitamin C, using Honey and resting the voice ever since. It's not quite back even today (Thursday), but I still hope to go out Friday, regardless. There might be a few songs I can't do ("Hang On Help is On Its Way" by LRB is one that springs to mind). On Christmas Day I was hoping to sing Christmas Songs at APAC, but I didn't, because I couldn't. I've sung a few songs today, and it seems a lot better, but still not 100%. This sort of cost me money, as I was actually expecting to go out on Christmas Night - but that never happened :-(

Anyway, it's a reminder I'm not superman. (Hey, that's a Five for Fighting song I might put in.... or maybe 100 Years?)

Busking - week 3 (aside)

I’ve started taking a 750 mL Coffee Milk bottle and a large Up & Go out with me now. I always find the milk smooths over the vocal chords instantly, and take frequent small sips. SOMETIMES I get into the Up & Go but sometimes the milk gets me through 4 hours alone.


I know I can do five hours straight now, and I’d be able to do it five nights straight if need be. It has only taken three weeks to get to this level of fitness. I am thinking about New Year’s Eve in Sydney. But Terrigal might be just as good and I can get there in 20 minutes. Maybe later in January, ‘though, just for the experience. Circular Quay somewhere sounds like somewhere that would suit me.  And with an "unamplified walk-by" act, I can actually busk along the walkway to the Opera House (once I get the permit from the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority).

Busking - Week 3

Hell, I've just been out 5 days straight. Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun. Did 21 hours total, so just over 4 hours a session.


I am having adventures out there. Tonight (Sunday) I arrived at 5:30pm, and went walking to the loo at the surf club and around the spot before setting up.

There was a "Christian" guy with signs up offering world peace and harmony, etc. He was setup at "my" spot at the Commonwealth Bank. So as I walked past I asked him how long he had been there and how long he was going to stay. Fairly late he said.

His entertainment consisted of banging on both sides of a Tama swingstar mounted tom-tom, probably a 14", but may have been a 12". The striking seemed to be fairly random. He kept it up for a while, while offering to talk to possible converts. Why do they always go out and tout for customers? The Ba'hai' faith teaches that people will seek knowledge themselves, it is not for others to "preach" to them. Anyway, I reckoned he was going to turn more people away than anything else. Anyone truly interested in talking to him would already be a Christian...

Anyway, I setup at the Spa Supermarket, which is along a fair bit from where he was. After about 20 minutes he dashed past, with his drum. He said he was going to the loo at the surf club. I looked up at the spot, and thought, yeah, I'm going there. A couple of women sitting on the bench opposite me offered encouragement and one of them even wheeled up my chair for me and I started to play "Silent Night".

He came back, told me it was his spot and to clear off. I thought "bad luck". Try leaving a parking space here at Terrigal and expect it to be free when you get back five minutes later. Nah, bad luck. Well he wasn't having that. He pushed over the music stand, flung my wheeled chair across the other side of the footpath when I tried to retrieve the music stand, and acted in a somewhat un-Christian manner. He said he'd drown me out with his drum.

I thought, "you asked for it, mate", so setup ONE shop along from him. As for drowning out, well, it didn't work that way. I got good crowds - it's absolutely great when you get some kids dancing away to (say) Rudolph or Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc. I knew I was having a good night. At one point I got sick of his drumming, so I turned the guitar upside down and started to belt out a bongo rhythm. Within seconds there's guys dancing around, and two guys put money in the guitar case as I was drumming. I was cracking up at that.

Anyway, I went back to playing songs, and the guy just sits there for another hour and a half, to spite me, essentially. He didn't play anything, he just sat, occupying the space, not making any sound. Maybe he was doing better for his cause by remaining quiet?? Not that it made any diff to me, as I was getting lots of gold in the case tonight.

Anyway Sunday was the best night this week. I reckoned Friday and Saturday would have been good, but they were only a portion of LAST Friday and Saturday night. Seems like last week it was all the go on the Fri & Sat. This week it's more spread out, and each night wasn't as busy.

However tonight I was stoked as there was $50 in NOTES in the case (a $10 and $40 in $5s). Plus LOTS of gold. Far more gold than silver tonight. Which means I must be doing something right.

I haven't had a chance at all to practice anything this week. Last week I learnt 21 new songs. This week I've learnt three: "Harley and Rose" [Black Sorrows], "Khe Sanh" [Chisel] and "Standing on the Inside" [Neil Sedaka]. And I love them all. At the moment, my absolute favourite to play is "Harley and Rose". It is so Dylanesque, it really suits my vocal range, and there is much you can do with it vocally. Occasionally I'll just play for my own benefit. I stayed out 5 hours on Saturday, the last hour I was essentially just paging through my book and playing songs *I* wanted to hear. I did Harley and Rose about 3 times in the last hour, and it's a money song. The bit where you do the high "Harley and Rose, they just lost it for a while" in the chorus, gets people's attention, as it breaks through the background noise.

I'm learning how to work the crowd, and I'm getting so much better at playing and singing. I'm absolutely hooked. But I will be having today (Monday) off. My fingertips are absolutely shredded and the callouses are huge. Plus I'm getting some reactive arthritis in the left hand ring finger. I can't bend it down all the way now - but it'll probably be okay when I wake up. Oh, yeah, talk about musician's hours... Goodnight all and sleep tight.

Busking - the second week

Okay, I got Public Liability Insurance to the tune of $10million on Tuesday (AAMI and GIO won't even take the risk on - getting other quotes proved quite tricky). I have my GCC Busker's Permit. So I'm now all legit. APRA don't licence artists directly to perform covers - they license the venues and businesses directly. So they've basically told me to not worry about copyright at all (which is strange as I thought they'd do a flat busker's fee, but no).


After all that, I thought I'd practice Book 1 on Wednesday, plus go through all these new Xmas songs I've added to repertoire this week. Then I thought blow it, I'll go out to Terrigal again. So for 3 hours PRACTICE I came back with ample reward! And what a place to practice - looking out on to the beach at Terrigal, beautiful weather. My No3 song in Book 1 is James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" and the chorus line "Deep greens and blues are the colours I choose", and I looked up and that's exactly what I was looking at, and I found it hard not to weep with joy and finish the song.

So tonight I went back ready to go with 15 (new to me) Christmas Songs, and 6 others (yep, I charted and learnt 21 songs this WEEK).

Was an interesting night. Had a dickhead (pardon the French, but I'd have to use a stronger term to properly describe him) come up halfway through "Rudolph" (where there were about 8-9 guys joining in and having a ball). He obviously decided he'd lend a hand, so he just came out of nowhere and landed a huge kick at the music stand. It goes flying up the footpath, a page rips out of the display book, and my pegs (absolutely essential at Terrigal) went everywhere. We found 3-1/2 pegs (yep, one was badly damaged) I bent the music stand back into shape (it's not good - poor old thing it is, too, it'd be 30 years old) and carried on.

One guy immediately gave me a $20 note, and then everyone started whacking in shrapnel. It helped a bit, I must say, but I still went really well anyway. Come 9:30-odd I started to get tired, so played another couple of songs (and I am always finishing now with Abba's "Thank You for the Music" - which again moves me to tears at the moment) and packed it in.

I've found I can play for four hours straight now, but I need to avoid going longer than that. I am sorta "saving" myself for Saturday night, as the two consecutive nights do end up bringing out all the joint pain. My left hand middle finger (the one I FIRST got arthritis in back in 2004, is quite sore this week. I just hope that it behaves itself). But I need to be out between about 7 & 10 on Friday and Saturday nights - it's my prime time. And I'm not sure I'm going to find a better spot than Terrigal.

I was worried tonight, as my favourite spot near the Commonwealth Bank was already taken by a harmonica player with an amplifier and microphone. I setup about 50 metres away and thought he'd take revenue from me. But no, I took more tonight than ever before. I think I did even better as I reckon I was putting on a much better show, and they'd compare the two of us, and I'd win out.

I just can't believe tonight's revenue. I'm definitely getting better, and my singing has just improved to no end. I've discovered my lower range, and if there's a song by (say) Abba or another band with a female vocalist, I can generally leave it in the key as written and sing it an octave down. If I'm hitting the notes (I was tonight) sometimes I'll go up for the final verse/chorus and actually sing at pitch with the female vocalists. If I give it plenty of air I can get some pretty high notes, too. Kasey Chambers's "Am I Not Pretty Enough" is one song where I do this. And I can hit the notes more accurately than Kasey herself, anyway (but that's another issue)!

PS: Have lost 14 kilograms since discharge from hospital on 27 August. Down to 106kg now, and still decreasing.... Have averaged 2kg loss per week, as I didn't reduce weight for the first month after getting out.

Busking - Genesis

Well, one of the APAC Nurses suggested I go out to Terrigal and busk - it'd be good by the beach with all the people in street cafés and the like.

I went out Friday night, started at 7:30, and went home at about 12:20. I started in the middle of The Esplanade opp the surf club in front of a vacant shop. At 10, I moved up to the Crowne Plaza taxi rank, where there were more people.

Very encouraging indeed, so I went back Saturday, starting earlier at 6:30pm. This time I had a bit of a look first, and setup in front of the Commonwealth Bank, which was within earshot of a street café, and had people visiting the ATM. The early start wasn't necessary. (7pm is the best time to start, I'd say). This time I went through to 10pm and I was absolutely shot and losing the voice, so I packed up after 3-1/2 hours.

This has potential, so I'll get licensed and do this a lot more. I can't recall ever earning this sort of hourly rate with any other job I've done. It's hard work, but hell, it's fun. I'll have to try new locations and see what happens