Posted on January 1, 2009

• Once again I find myself in the hospital. I’ve been pretty vague with you guys about my condition up until now for a couple of reasons. First, I was in some denial about the diagnosis. Second, the problems I was having were in a sensitive area that I don’t like to talk about even to close friends. It’s past time I gave you guys the scoop though, so here it is.

  I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in July. The problems started back in December 2007 when my doctors found a couple of infected areas near my rectum (TMI, I know but it’s part of the bigger picture). The areas were opened, drained, and left open to heal. It was pretty painful stuff. If it had ended there things probably would have been ok, but my surgeon apparently didn’t explore well enough because some infection was left behind which led to a wound which wouldn’t heal.

  Other doctors tried to heal me up using course after course of antibiotics, and I tried to keep my pain under control by taking far too much Advil (just so I could sit for more than an hour at a time), Taking all of these medicines over several months I started to develop stomach aches which lead to the (surprising) diagnosis of Crohn’s in July. I’ve just recently had another surgeon do a procedure to finally root out all of the infection in my nether regions, but my intestinal problems have been increasing steadily over the last part of the 2008. Just since November I’ve had to run to the ER a number of times with uncontrollable stomach pain and vomiting which I’ve discovered is a result of a blockage in my small intestines. An area is literally swollen shut with scar tissue and inflammation. Even my good days were pretty painful, and my bad days sent me to the ER.

  The most recent incident was the past Saturday and I’ve been in the hospital ever since. My GI doctor has advised me that my best shot of getting back to normal is to have to diseased part of my intestine removed. I am sitting here waiting for the operation now. They tell me the piece is a relatively small part of my overall supply so I should live pretty normally after this (though I will have to take medicine to keep the Crohn’s at bay and get a monthly vitamin shot because I will no longer be able to absorb one of the B vitamins from food). I will be fine in the long run.

  I will be in the Hospital for another week or so, and then resting at home for another couple of weeks. I won’t be returning to work until I feel up to it, but I do have a rather cool new project at around the halfway stage which I should have ready to go in short order when I am back online.

  Wish me luck everyone, I’ll be recovering by the time you read this but I will accept retroactive good wishes. Things should return to full swing around here shortly and my doctors tell me that I should be in the clear for a long time to come. Just gotta get past these next few weeks.

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Posted on January 1, 2009

• I’ve posted dual and triple screen versions of both “First Light” and “First Moonlight” in the gallery this morning. I would have had them up a day or two ago, but I got sidetracked working on a new project which popped into my head all of a sudden. Stay tuned for more on that….

Posted on January 1, 2009

• Late Update:I was working on the mulit-screen version of “First Light” today when I remembered one of the comments I had read in the feedback thread for that image. The jist of the comment was the person usually requested night versions of my daytime images, but this one was pretty good as is so a night version wasn’t needed.

  That got me thinking about what a night version would look like, so I tweaked the atmosphere and lighting a little bit and did a few renders. I thought the result was a pretty nice wallpaper in its own right so I’ve posted it up here for you. I call it “First Moonlight” (kind of cheesy, but it fit the theme).

  I hope you like it. I have the multi-screen of First Light rendering now and should have it up soon (and a multi-screen of “First Moonlight” shortly thereafter).

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01/07/09

• I hope to have a multi-screen version of “First Light” up shortly. In the meantime I have added 1024 x 600 images for those of you using Netbook computers. The new size is in the list of options to the right of the image thumbnails, or you can download them all (I have just over 200 available) in a Zip file.
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Posted on January 1, 2009

• I’ve done some tweaking to “First Light” and posted a new version with a (hopefully) improved shoreline and calmer sea (less noise). I’m still trying to figure out Vue 7’s new water (and battle it’s many bugs) but I am happier with this version than the first render.
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Posted on January 1, 2009

• Happy New Year! First of all, I want to thank everyone who sent me kind thoughts and posted in this thread. Your support really helped me get through a tough time and I appreciate it.

  As my post-op pain has started to ebb my itch to return to work has risen. I started on back in on something simple after Christmas and I’ve posted it up on the New Images page tonight. It’s called “First Light”. If you’ve followed my work for a time you’ll know I like to follow up my Christmas/Winter images with an immediate trip to someplace warm. If I can’t really be someplace warm I can do the next best thing and make a warm picture.

  I hope you guys enjoy it. Still trying to figure out Vue’s new water settings. Thanks again for all the kind words. I’ll do my best to get things back to normal around here in 2009.

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