Loved Taking a back seat for a while, until my health improves

Hello all MSZ Forum members

I should have posted this message 3 months ago !!!

I have been extremely unwell for the last 3+ months.
Some of you already know about this, but now I am talking to everyone, because I need to make some changes right now, otherwise I'm going to end up trapped in a never ending loop.

During the last 3+ months I kept getting "bogged down" in trying to help people, who in the end just vanished or never replied back to say whether their problem was resolved. When this happens, it feels like a tremendous waste of energy, however I only have my own self to blame for this. I have a tendency to post detailed replies which are over the top sometimes. I should be writing articles for the website and creating new video tutorials instead, which would be a better use of my time and energy.

For that reason, I am forcing myself to take a back seat for a while and will only give much shorter answers until my health improves.
I will still reply to questions on the forum, but if I know it is going to take a HUGE amount of time and energy to solve, I will now rely more on the help of the senior experienced forum members to help out.

When I can't help someone, I always recommend you post your questions on the official Vegas Pro forums.
More Vegas users are active on this forum than here, so you are more likely to find someone who maybe able to help.
However, you probably wont receive the same detailed response that I normally provide here at the MSZ Forum.
www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/vegas-pro-forum/

What I have been doing for last 3+ months...

Health first
3+ months ago I woke up with a severe headache that put me in hospital - I thought my time might have been up, it felt that bad.
I'm use to bad headaches and have experienced them all my life, due to being born with Hydrocephalus.
Hydrocephalus is too much CSF (cerebral spinal fluid) pressure in the ventricles of the brain and is treated by the insertion of a shunt into the brain, that is attached to a micro valve, which then drains via a tube into the abdominal cavity.

My shunt got blocked, which caused tremendous pressure in my brain = severe pain that feels like 100/10.
For almost 3 months my shunt was stuck in a block/unblock cycle, which meant severe headaches every 2nd or 3rd day.
Long story short, it finally unblocked itself 3 weeks ago and thank God the severe headaches have stopped for now.
I have been backwards and forwards to Sydney during this time to see my neurologist and neurosurgeon.
They were extremely hesitant to replace my shunt, because every test and scan shows everything looks normal.
The risk in this type of brain surgery is very great, due to potential brain bleed or infection, so for now I'm glad I didn't force them to do something that may have made everything worse.

Right now the severe pain has gone, but my body and mind is extremely exhausted by what happened.
If I overexert myself, I do experience awful pain in my spinal cord, because CSF pressure is always balancing between my brain and spine.
I can't tolerate sitting in a chair for more than 4 hours, so I need to constantly rest and lie flat, which brings my pain back to zero.
I've been taking strong pain killers for so long now, they don't work as well as they used to.
Cannabis works the best, but unfortunately Australia is still in the dark ages and it's impossible for me to access CBD oil legally, so for now I am having to keep using Codeine. But at the same time, the Australian government's chief medical officer is threatening doctors to stop prescribing pain killers, so I have my GP saying I must reduce and stop taking codeine. It's so frustrating and extremely stressful. The only way forward is to take control and help myself by breaking the law, which is what most people living with chronic pain have to do in Australia.

The future of this website and forum
I have also been working a BIG new project for this website, but when I got sick, all work on that ceased.
I am determined to finish this project I have been working on, because it will change this website and forum in a very positive way and will also help me financially, which will reduce the constant stress I have been under during the last 3+ months.

Recently I moved the website onto a new premium Web Host provider, in preparation for the project I have been working on. Unfortunately when I moved the website, something out of my control happened and the entire website and forum disappeared from Bing search, Yahoo search and DuckDuckGo search. The problem was caused equally by Microsoft and my new web host. Microsoft had put a block on www.moviestudiozen.com and my new web host's firewall was blocking Bing's bingbot crawler. The Australian web host I moved to VentraIP, is one of the biggest premium web hosts in Australia. Incredibly, none of the other Australian websites being hosted at VentraIP realised that the Bing crawler was being blocked by the firewall. So when I discovered this, I had helped a heap of companies that won't even know what had happened. Even big websites seem to think that only Google exists, which I find almost impossible to believe, but it's true.

If you are still reading this, you deserve a medal

Here and Now
Last week I had to go to Sydney to my Grandmother's funeral. She was 105 and about to turn 106.
Unfortunately she was not a very nice person and stopped talking to my Dad 40 years ago, after they had a trivial dispute.

I know this may sound a little weird to talk about this on the forum, but I'm trying to paint a picture as to where my head and heart is right now.
I feel like I have dealt with all the shit now and am ready to be laser focused and finish something that I have started.

So for the next couple of months I will be working on new material for Movie Studio Zen, instead of spending too much time on the forum.
Once I get this project completed, I will have much better and more up to date educational resources for how to use Vegas Pro and Vegas Movie Studio.

Regards
Derek (aka Doctor Zen)

Hi Doc,

Hey, no apologies. JUST GET BETTER!

Sort of like all those that are suddenly showing up here on this forum and at the Vegas Creative Forums, where "I want it now", "Why can't it be Automatic?", "that's not what I saw on YouTube...", etc., etc., hence my lack of answering some questions. Plus, that slight "Irish" temper tends to go overboard as well! If all these people would actually slow down, read the manual or really watch available tutorials, they would find it isn't how fast to edit/render, but Tell the Story!

I may not post videos on YouTube, as most of my content is for family on Blu-Ray, so really have to "Read the question or posts", of which I've forgotten a couple of times here and over at the Vegas forum. Getting better at it though, yet still hesitant to "respond". Do not need to get into any "Flame War" with people, but "biting my tongue" at times makes me want to revert to those earlier Sailor days of drinking!

So, get yourself healthy, do what YOU need to do, and there are some great guys here and at Vegas who I know will assist as they always have. Besides, I'm still waiting to see how your next build turns out!

Mike "The Chief" O'Sullivan

Thanks Mike

Good Luck to you Derek and thank you for the massive amount of work you have already done for us. It is appreciated and I am sure that everyone will want to see your health improve. Get well soon, Mate.

Kindest Regards,

Richard

Thanks Richard

Derek,

First let me apologize as I may be one of those you find you've given an answer to and not gotten appropriate feedback on the solution. I appreciate your help so much and would likely never have figured out some of my MSP13 & 16 issues without you (and other forum contributors). My world has been full of ongoing family medical issues and working till the 11th hour before going on location to shoot. So, I am so sorry that I have not given detailed feedback about answers you provided. I can tell you as a whole, all solutions you provided did work. You have saved my bacon many times.

I fully support your decision to step back for awhile. Sounds like it is the absolute best thing for you. It is hard to heal if you keep giving all your energy away. We appreciate your candor about personal stuff. It is likely hard to put it out there but we feel like we know you and are invested in good things for you. Sounds like the forum community will try to step up and answer more questions to fill in the gaps. I am not the most techy or experienced member but I will try to answer what I can as well.

A side note.... I'm aware of your exploration into natural healing. If you can find Valerian Root or Wild Lettuce Leaf down there those might take the edge off your pain and I don't believe they are opioids. Wondering if Melatonin might help brain healing as well. Deep sleep is the best thing to help the brain get rid of toxins and inflammation.

I made a donation through PayPal just a second ago. Wish I could do more. You have done so much to help me. Hopefully others will be able to do the same so you can at least ease financial stresses.

Thanks so much!!

A side note.... I'm aware of your exploration into natural healing. If you can find Valerian Root or Wild Lettuce Leaf down there those might take the edge off your pain and I don't believe they are opioids. Wondering if Melatonin might help brain healing as well. Deep sleep is the best thing to help the brain get rid of toxins and inflammation.
I made a donation through PayPal just a second ago. Wish I could do more. You have done so much to help me. Hopefully others will be able to do the same so you can at least ease financial stresses.

I just sent you a private thank you message Vidchick
I wasn't referring to you personally when I was complaining about messages that go un-responded, it was more the new people who arrive out of the blue in a big panic and simply never reply back once after I answer their question/s. I do remember speaking to you a few times when you needed help.

Thanks for the tip on Valerian Root and Wild Lettuce Leaf.
One of my good friends owns the local health food store, so I'll get her to help me with your suggestion.
In my 20's and 30's I was a huge "pot head" and it wasn't until I stopped smoking (to save my lungs), that I realised the cannabis was helping to reduce my pain levels quite dramatically. When I use to smoke dope, I rarely took opioids. Now I realise I have to take care of myself and break the law if needed, because I am tired of taking codeine. All the other opiates give me terrible side effects. So I save Morphine for hospital visits when I need the big guns.

I have now discovered the revelation of vaporises to take cannabis, which is much easier on the lungs.

I will also admit I don't sleep enough or regularly enough, so I'm working on changing that right now.

Thanks once again.

Hi Doctor Zen
 Being new to your site have just read your missive on your health problem. I do hope all is now ok. As I say I am new to the site and was very pleased to find somewhere I could post a problem and actually receive a reply. You most certainly did a first class job helping me and I was extremely grateful. I find it very sad to read that you put yourself out to provide help and solutions to problems and some people can't be bothered to even say thank you. One again many thanks for your help to me and very best wishes for the future.
Kind regards
Golfingman