A Dark Day

To loving family, dear friends, and respected colleagues;

As some of you know, I spent most of the last two weeks in the hospital with an unexplained swelling in my belly. I had exploratory surgery Tuesday and it was confirmed to be caused by Melanoma, a malignant cancer. I had a Melanoma removed from my back in October, 2000, and it was never expected to return. Well, it did. The technical name for what I have is Metastatic Melanoma.

Unfortunately, it is not operable. It is covering my peritoneum, the bag the holds my organs in. Luckily, it has not spread to any of my other organs that we can see.

I am at MD Anderson Cancer Center here in Houston, one of the top two cancer centers in the world. My doctor is awesome, and I trust his judgment completely.

I have started what is called Biochemotherapy therapy. I had my first dose last night, and things went very well. I plan to be home next Thursday for about two weeks while I wait to start another course. The courses take 3 weeks (1 week on chemo, 2 weeks off), and my doctor wants me to do 6-8 of them.

I am very weak from the drugs and Jennifer is very tired from the stress. If you have a question about this cancer or the drugs I am taking, please look it up on the internet. Keep in mind, that every cancer is unique, and you have to take what you read on the internet with a grain of salt .

Please feel free to send me emails. I will read them, however, I will probably not reply. I only turn my computer on for about 20 minutes a day, and I don’t have the strength to answer all the emails I have been getting. I appreciate the awesome gifts people have sent, they are quite nice and cheer up my room well. However, it is getting quite crowded in here. If you wish to send something, please make a donation to MD Anderson here.

Thank you for you prayers and thoughts.. I plan on getting through this and ending up in full remission. The is no other alternative I will accept.