Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Getting some sun



Zoe is something of a sun worshipper so we sometimes soak up a bit of sun while she is with me. We sit on the landing outside my front door for a while of a late afternoon.

Given my frequent skin cancers I regard the sun as something of an enemy, however. So when I sit out in the sun, I cover up a bit with hat and sunnies. Zoe actually thought that made me look sexy so she took some photos of me in my protective gear. I reproduce two of them. In the close-up you can see the scars on my cheek from my recent operation. Zoe thought my scars made me look rather handsome. De gustibus non disputandum est





Friday, June 24, 2022

An unpleasant day


Recently, a lump of some kind sprang up on my cheek beside my nose on the right.  I had it biopsied but the biopsy was uninformative.  It was however growing so was probably a cancer of some sort and hence needed to be removed.

I put one of the best plastic surgeons in Brisbane -- someone I know well from past procedures -- onto the job and he successfully removed it yesterday -- charging $4,000 for the job.  It was a very difficult job so it was worth that to me.  

The tumor went down to the bone and it abutted a facial muscle.  In less capable hands I could have been left with a droopy face.  It is already a bit droopy due to my having lost a left facial nerve in another cancer operation some years ago. The muscle appears to have been preserved this time however

It was a Moh's procedure so we know that the tumor was all gone before I was stitched up.  I didn't have a lot of pain when the local wore off but the site is rather uncomfortable.  There was some swelling around the site but I am taking Roxithromycin for it and the swelling does appear to be on the way down. Roxithromycin is a "safer" form of Erythromycin, which has worked well for me in the past. I note that Roxithromycin is not yet approved for use in the USA but is approved in a number of European countries

The biopsy of the specimen yielded a diagnosis of a BCC but the cells were obviously unusual so my surgeon is consulting and oncologist colleague to understand a bit about it.  He has not ruled out follow-up radiology.

Monday, June 20, 2022

Mortality


A lot of men die in their 60s so one can easily lose friends that way.  I have.  Most of my friends are dead.  I find that hard to get used to.  They are still alive and vital in my memory. I still think of them as they were and miss being able to see them.

So I am rather glad that I am still alive at age 78 and appear to be in good enough shape to last a while yet.  And while my friends are dead I am enjoying a relationship with a new and pretty girlfriend. There is a picture of her at the head of this blog. I feel very lucky.  

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

Alphabets


Aging is a pesky thing

Having a great desire to understand the world about me, I did in my youth become familiar with the Greek alphabet, the Hebrew alphabet and the the Cyrillic alphabet (Russia).  To my regret, however I never did learn Devanagari (India), which looks rather pretty. 

I have minor qualifications in Italian and German so I find that I can have a fair stab at understanding something in a European language as long as I can read the alphabet.  That is assisted by the fact that most languages these days have borrowed heavily from English

But in my late '70s I have lost most of that.  I can still read Greek with difficulty but that's about it.  And I can with patience look up a Russian dictionary because Cyrillic is based on Greek.

But now that I have a patriotic Serb in my life, I am trying to relearn Cyrillic.  I recently sent her an email in Cyrillic.  It is below:

драга
добро јутро
ај лове ју
Џон 

And I am pleased to note that one of the characters in it is a Serbian one -- not part of standard Cyrillic

The message was warmly received



Friday, June 10, 2022

A fun day


Very low-key fun but perhaps that is the best sort.

Below is the raw-food dinner Zoe put in front of me. It was a pleasant and colourful composition -- and probably good for me as well



And below is the composer of that dinner, looking as pleased as she has every right to be



She is wearing one of her favourite necklaces plus a bangle I gave her that day. I feel more than pleased to have such a nice-looking partner in my decrepit late '70s

The bangle. She likes pearls

The bangle is a magnetically fastened one so can also be worn as a necklace. See below in a high definition pic. The Hi-def also shows what remarkably wrinkle-free skin Zoe has in her mid 70s. She ages unusually slowly



And after dinner we went shopping at Coco's and got a whole box of fruit and veg for just $12. Zoe picked out most of what we bought so that is part of the reason why we paid so little. She has a very good eye for a bargain.

We sometimes exchange messages in Serbian Cyrillic. The message for me below below is actually in English but spelt in Cyrillic

ај лове ју.

In Cyrillic, a V shows as a B

I normally greet her in Serbian or Russian when she arrives at my place. Like most Serbs, she understands Russian. They learn it at school and it is a closely related language so they tend to learn it well

Friday, June 3, 2022


A food surprise

Because I do not have a live-in partner, I often have to prepare meals for myself -- so I rely a lot on frozen dinners and canned food. They are usually quite passable these days but none reach any kind of gourmet standard.

I can be lucky, however. For my lunch yesterday I ate very well. I had a thick Laksa soup which was excellent followed by a Tasmanian pork pie that was very tasty too. Not quite a gourmet lunch but definitely a good one.