Hello and greetings from Northeast Minneapolis, where I have been holed up recovering quietly at home for the past two weeks. I have some pretty ugly scars, including a big sideways "T" on my chest, results of cutting my torso open using the "clam shell" method. I also have the scars of four inch long incisions in my belly that were used to drain fluids from my body cavity during and after the surgery.

I have one-and-a-half lungs,and my heart no longer has a golf-ball-sized tumor hanging around inside of it. That much is resolved. I am recovering well. I nap a lot, but I understand that it is pretty normal to need more sleep when you are healing from major trauma.

I have follow up meetings with my lung and heart surgeons, Dr. M and Dr. L2 this week. I think they will be pleased with my progress.

The large tumor that remains on my left forearm has yet to be dealt with, but at this point it is looking like Dr. R will be putting me through a battery of five weeks of radiation treatment to try to stop the tumor's growth.

I also have had some communication from the Haag Hospital in California suggesting that they may be making progress on preparing a vaccine for me from my tumor tissue via their clinical trial.

A key to my doctors:
Dr. A - my primary oncologist (cancer doctor)
Dr. B - my dermatologist (diagnosed me with cancer twice, in 1998 & in 2007)
Dr. C - an orthopedic oncologist who examined the tumor in my arm in 2010
Dr. E - a plastic surgeon who performed two surgeries removing tumors in 2008 & 2009
Dr. K - my general practitioner, refused to biopsy me in 2007
Dr. L - a practitioner of Chinese medicine and acupuncture I saw in 2009
Dr. L2 - my heart surgeon (coronary specialist)
Dr. M - my lung surgeon (thorasic specialist)
Dr. R - my radiologist, oversaw my whole brain radiation in 2008, possibly my arm radiation in 2010