Artraccoon

"The Worm has turned and is packing an Uzi", a great line from the awesome film "Wolf", and appropriate to my life at this time. First, it's been two medical checks in the last six months and it can be officially said that I am in Remission!! My strength is slowly coming back, and I don't fatigue out as easily as I did before. In fact I've been working 9 to 10 hour days at work, five days a week at my job. Second, My job...the thing that pays my bills and insurance...well it moved me closer to home and promoted me to General Manager at that store. It was confirmed earlier this week, and my new pay is on the next check...woohoo!! The store I got was a wreck, but I'm whipping it into shape and already the biz is improving. Now all I need is a staff instead of the occasional staff loaned from another store...but that's in the works. Third, Got my main computer up and going...yay! That means access to my files, Photoshop, scanner, etc...and the internet access other than my stupid

It's been a hard haul with this whole cancer thing, the pandemic turmoil, the passing of my Mother, friends, and critters...and still working my mental & labor intensive and now very understaffed job this whole time. Yeah, working, while sick and weakened by chemo, but the bills weren't going to pay themselves and I needed the insurance that the company provided. This whole time dizzy, depressed, sick, and burnt out feeling. But damn it, I didn't come all this way through all this worldly hell just to give up. There were times I wanted to, and I broke down often...still do...and it would have been sooo easy to just give up. But I do have dreams, even with my passions beat down and subdued, dreams that I must pursue and most of all I have a life to live, even in a rather fucked up world that seems to get worse by the day. I've got to push on, it's going to be hard, but I will fight for my life and dreams. I have only three more post-cancer treatments left, one every two

It's been a hard time these several months. Dealing with Follicuar Lymphoma and the chemo treatments all the while still working at my day job. Chemo made me sick and twitchy, conditions that haven't been very conducive to creating art or doing much at all but surviving. I painted a lot of tank miniatures, but cammo is easy especially in 6mm, and I did those for morale. Every week I would have blood drawn, have evals done, and then every three weeks chemo treatment...just after recovering from the last. Headaches, horrible fatigue, mild shakiness, nausea, and other such fun after effects. Lost my hair too, not that I had too much anyway. Last week was my last chemo treatment and signs look really good. I went from being lit up like a Christmas tree in the PET scan to one lone spot of cancer. I will never truly be rid of this disease but it can be contained but my doctors are extremely pleased with the results. So there's hope for tomorrow. Fuck Cancer. Another