An odd way to run things I guess

       So enough about me for a moment, I want to talk about something else for a change, maybe a few something else's. ( It my blog, I can type the way I want)

      A while back a friend had revived a 'cell phone ticket'. Sec. 241.1 of the Saskatchewan Highway Traffic Act. The long and short of it, a cell phone can't be in your hand while driving, period. We both thought at the time that it could be in your hand as long as you weren't using it, guess not. She changed her plea to guilty after taking the advice of the prosecutor or their agent. They also sujested that she explain to the judge that she has not had any ticket's for at least 5 years and she's a good driver, just made a mistake.

Now the crazy part........

     The judge REDUCED the fine to $175.00 if I remember the amount correctly from $280.00 and gave her 3 months to pay. Just nuts, and here's why...

      If you are charged with murder let's say, the court system seams to give you a lesser sentence if you take a plea to the charge. This, I believe, is to save the cost of a lengthy trial. Fair enough, and as a taxpayer I agree with this policy. I don't agree with it costing us $113,000 a year to house these people that chose to be part of the system, maybe a lesson from the Connecticut system would help pay for some of those costs.

      So, the silly part is, why would the the provincial court system REWARD people who fight the traffic ticket they receive?  It the incident above, she went to court twice taking up time and resources only to get a reduction in the fine. That makes no sense. If you fight the ticket and lose, pay up, end of story. Why would fighting the ticket warrant a reduced fine?  I can understand the time to pay being at the discretion of the judge, but the amount should not be. Do the crime, do the time or pay the fine!

       It just seams like a big waste of time and resources to me. Can anyone explain it to me?


Have a great day and may all your wishes come true,

Bruce

      

     

Febuary 2013

    
Hello all, time for another chat. Feel free to make a comment or two, just so I know your out there, the echo is so loud in this room.


Since we last wrote, the treatments are all done, thank God. I really didn't think I was going to make the last week. Now the recovery. It takes a lot longer than I thought it would. Following some blog sites I see that the average is 6 months to a year before things START to get back to normal, I'm just coming up on three months and wish it was here already. It will be a new normal that's for sure. I guess the biggest thing in my head is 'did they get it?', ' Is it going to come back?' 'When can I enjoy a burger again?'

My family has been so good since all of this has started, their amazing. Janet has put up with the whining and complaining so well. Right now, I'm not the guy I was 6 months ago, I find it difficult to do some of the tasks I did everyday. Not so much a physical thing, though that does have some bearing, mostly a mental barrier that has been put up, by me. Some days it hard to convince yourself that it's all going to be OK, and soon everything will be good. I worry about making long term plans for anything. I know that at any time I could be taken out by a bus, this is different, this is the body failing and you can see it coming.

You see all these cancer survivors cheering and going on with their stories and you have to wonder, where the hell they got the power to do that. I wish I had it, I don't. I've not given up, hell NO, but how these people can be cheery everyday is beyond me, at this point anyway.

I gotten away with a few things in life. An aneurysm a few years ago, walked away from that like it was hangnail. Cancer is not so cut and dry. You never know if it's really gone, that's the kicker, it sticks in your mind and it's hard to turn it off, well for me anyway.

Enough about that.

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Still working on doing a photography project with OASIS group at the Westside Community clinic, I hope to have that started by March 15ish, I still need about 5 cameras to make it work, so step up if you can. I believe it will be a really great project and I've secured on of the best photographers / videographers in town to lend a had as well. We'll post links when there available.

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Just a note: As I am going through all this shit I've notice one thing stands out. Your friends. Some make an effort, some, not so much. It seams like some are afraid to be around a sick person, weather there better or not.  What I have is not contagious, if fact, most people get a form of cancer 6 to 10 times in their life, the body can and will fight all of them, some are stronger and the body needs some help. What you can do is call that friend, and don't worry if they don't call you back, call again. I had a good friend call, and I didn't call him back for a few days, then I felt bad because it took so long, so I never called him. Just keep calling ( not every hour, but you get my point) they may not be up to talking right away, but they will.



Everyone have a great day and may all your wishes come true.

Thanks Chickadee

Bruce

It's almost done!!

     It's funny how six weeks, or 30 treatments really sounds long at the beginning, but now has we get down to the last few (4 left today) I can see the light at the end of the tunnel as it were. The skin is a bit fried on the one side, however, that should come back with time. Only eating Ensure and an soft boiled egg everyday gets a bit dull really fast. By reading some others blogs and boards, most have everything back to normal within a year or so. One person pointed out that once your diagnosed, the next year is is a right off of sorts. Spend your time fighting the battle, then get back to living.

     We did get some good news today, the latest test show no cancer in the lungs or bronchial tubes, Wooo Hooo! Just waiting for the high res CT scan results, then we have an ultrasound on Friday. Tuesday will be the last radiation treatment, and then it's time to heal and get back to living. And getting the taste buds back online so I can enjoy some food again. I don't think we're out of the woods yet, but close.

      Again, I can't thank-you all enough for all the calls, well wishes and prayers, it really does help with the mental part of this battle. Has a good friend said quite some time ago, "Bruce, you have a hill to get over", well, the top is close I think.

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      It out, the photo book is in print!!!! " Just for Us " 12 photog's got their act together and came up with a outstanding set of photographs. Order yours today!!.

      I pretty proud of everyone involved to get this project off the ground.

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I've had some projects put on hold over the last few months, which is understandable, so now it's time to get back to some of them. Unfortunately, Help-Portrait won't be a on this year, as far as I know. It was just too late to get everyone together. Planing has to start in Sept, not mid Nov. for such an event.

I'm going to start putting the final touches on a OASIS project. I've got just about enough cameras to have a "class" of ten. The project is simple, give ten cameras to ten people in the OASIS program for a week, shoot there lives, what make them happy, sad, mad, ect. Take their shot, make a small video of sorts and let the show the rest of the class. It will be eye opening for allot of people, including me. I plan on giving some basic photography techniques and do a bit of editing. Most if not all of these people do not own computers, so I don't want to invest time in that part.

It should be fun. I can always use another digital camera if your willing to donate. Just looking for point and shoot types. Most people have one or two sitting in a drawer, never to be used again and not really worth anything on EBay anymore. If it works, please send it my way.

The ones that allow me to post their project, I have a link here.

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Well that's all for now. I hope everyone has a great day.

Bruce

f/16

Treatments have started!

Well the treatments have started, radiation on the neck and throat, 30 times, ounce a day, but weekends off!! The taste buds are starting to loose the battle, though they should come back, the saliva glads not so much. If the cancer go's, I can sure beat the other effects. Still scary in that machine everyday, still taking Ativan daily before I get into in.

There are more tests coming. An ultrasound of the thyroid and CT scan or the upper chest. I hope all go's well and nothing else shows up. We'll have to wait and see.

I want to thank you all for all the well wishes and prayers in the last few weeks, it has meant allot to Janet and I.

I also seem to be becoming a bit of a recluse, not really feeling sorry for myself at all, just wanting to stay close to home.
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My son and I joined the Movember movement today:

 

 

So far we've raised $100. and counting. You can donate here: http://mobro.co/brucejohnson5  We'll post updates as things start to grow back.

 

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Well the photo book is just about done, and should be sent to the printer very soon. Getting 12 people together on this project was a bit of a feat to say the least. After some heavy discussions I think we finely got everyone has happy as they can be. We're sending one away for proofing and then we'll let the ordering begin, just in time for Christmas!!

 

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That's all for now folks, we'll talk again soon,

 

Bruce

f/16

 

 

 

 

 

Well, if your still flowing me, we're both surprised! It's been some time since I've written here and so much has happened in the last 10 months. Where to begin is daunting on my part. Here go's.....

The spring and summer have whizzed past in a blur, more so now because of some health issues (more on that later).

 Janet and I celebrated out 25th wedding anniversary in May. I totally caught her off guard by getting some slightly Boudoir pic's of myself done, to say the lest, NOT what she expected. Well done I think. Everyone had a good laugh about the shots, including me.

Here is one:

 

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Photography:

The old D90 workhorse has worked it's charm again and again. We captured some great shots this summer in places like Waterton National Park, Creston, Ab and Dakota Dunes fireworks display. However, it's time to put her it someone else's hands and move on up as it were. Janet has been using the D5000, which is a great camera, but knobs and menus were a bit different compared to the D90. I was always flubbing my way through to get it to do what I wanted, my fault, not the cameras.

After some careful thought, Janet and I decided to pick up two D7000's. This way we both have the same camera and accessories. I think the shooting side will work much better than before. The great thing is that allot of the controls are not that much different than the D90, so the learning curve won't be a big issue for either of us.

We did one of the two wedding's I limit myself to, in Sept. The day was a bit rainy, but we pulled it off and the couple we're fantastic to work with. The final product is just days away from there hands. So far the teaser shot's they have seen have made they teary eyed, so that's a good sign. Congrats to Elaine and Sheldon.

A group of photographers I hang with are going to be publishing a photo book, more for family, friends and us really, but It should be available for sale as well before Christmas, we'll keep you posted on that.

Family:

Well we're going to be grandparents again!!!! A new one is one the way and should be here in late December, I can't wait, I'm much better prepared this time. Marcus is growing into a fine young man with a great curiosity, something I can work with. Congrats to Angela and Robert.

 

Alan is doing good, learning fast about how credit works and how fast it can become a BIG hole that is hard to climb out of. He'll make it out of that pit and do fine, a lesson we all have to learn I guess. More in that out is the way to live.

 

OK, as promised, more on the health issue:

Back in the spring I had a lymph node go crazy on me and by May the Doc decided to biopsy it. After three such events, two came back cancerous and one benign. I had a neck dissection to remove it and another 100+ lymph nodes, only one came back with cancer, which is good, so the doctors say. Some radiation and all will be good again. Not really that simple, but for the blog we'll leave it like that. My personal opinion is that they missed something and it's a much bigger problem than they can see right now, their fix is a band aid and to be honest, my feeling is that it's much worse that they know or have figured out yet, but I'm not a doctor, so I hope like hell their right.

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd time you hear someone say cancer is WTF?? Me, really... now what. Natural in today's world is to hit the net and find a pill you can take to make it all go away, sorry folks, it don't work that way. You can try the natural cures that are out there, go with what the Dr's are telling you or do nothing. A combination of the both is what I'm trying, it's just really hard to stay up on the regime.

I've had a couple of more biopsy's, one on the tongue and another on some Lymph nodes in the right side of the chest. The tongue came back clean and we're still waiting to hear about the chest, fingers crossed.

After I had an aneurysm a few years ago I realized, with Janet's help, that I am a bit claustrophobic . Never really thought about it until the first MRI scan without taking something before I got in. They had to pull me out and give me a pill, so now every year I take a pill and slide in, all go's well.

 

With this new health problem, I've had some more scans on both machines, CT & MRI. Most went well. They made a hard mask so when radiation starts, I can't move my head and the treatments go to the exact point they want it to, fair enough. So one more CT scan and the treatments can start, good news, except that Bruce does not take a magic pill before hand. Bad plan! The CT I think I could handle without the pill anyway, however, with the mask on and your face bolted down to the table, it's very different feeling. To be honest, I have never been that scared in my life....ever! So, we had to put off the scan for a week and try it again, but with pill's to take me to my happy place. I'm up at 2:30 in the morning writing because, as I was crawling into bed hours ago, I thought about the upcoming scan and literally started shaking again. We'll relax a bit and hit the hay soon.

Janet has been amazing through all of this. Hanging out at appointment's and hospitals, all day in some cases. There are no words to describe her dedication to us has we go through this journey together. I do know for sure that I would be lost in a hospital somewhere, crying like a baby, and not having a clue when or where I have to be next if it was not for this fine lady. Pat her on the back, buy her a coffee, give her a hug whenever you see her, she deserves it. I can never say thank-you enough, I love you enough, ever.

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Well, that's it for now, and as I always seem to say, I try and keep on this blog and let you folks know what's happening. 10 months was a bit long, but we'll chat soon.

Take care and we'll chat soon,

Bruce  www.leddycreekphoto.com

f/16