It's mid February. I went into NIH last Monday and Tuesday. The Dr's say they can now say they have successfully treated me for melanoma. The tumors they took out are definitely negative. The CT scans last Monday show that the tumors that are deep by my hearing canal are smaller now than in December. They are now saying it appears that the tumors have become benign and are being absorbed by my body, much like scar tissue. Benign? Negative for Melanoma? Smaller? Absorption? It was good to be hearing that the only word they didn't use was Remission. I do believe that is the next word to follow. Work is going well and it looks like Naples and New Delhi are coming very soon after my trip to Costa Rica. I'm looking forward to that. So Next time I'm scheduled back to NIH is 2-3 months. Hear that???!!!!! Observation in 2-3 months. Wooo Hooo!!!

I have been so bad. Molly was right: It seems like anyone treating you for Melanoma never gives you all the news. We've figured out that there is so little good news they don't want to give you all of the bad news. Well, HEAR THIS: We have GOOD NEWS. December 14 they did surgery to determine if the tumors contained Melanoma. The tumors shrank to pin-head size, but they didn't go away. What Molly was saying was that NIH told us at first there were 2 tumors, then admited there were 3 and at the end of the discussion, we found out there were 4 tumors total that they could see. Anyway they were afraid of doing a biopsy on them because the biopsy can spread the melanoma, making it worse. So they went in and cut out the tumors and did the biopsy in the lab. The tumors were NEGATIVE FOR MELANOMA. This means the growths have been reduced as small as they are going to get and have been turned into scar tissue. Most likely, they will leave the two tumors deep by my hearing canal. So now we move onto the bucket list. I am planning to do some things before I kick the bucket. The last of February, I am heading to Costa Rica to go on an ECO-Tour. I have always wanted to do one of those excursions where they put you in a repelling harness, snap you onto a 2 mile cable and send you through the canopy of the rain-forest. I am fascinated by hummingbirds, whales, frogs, volcanoes, scuba diving trips, white water rafting and Costa Rica has it all. HOOORAH!

Chris