I almost died!

This past week has been pretty challenging. As some of you know, I have stage IV Metastatic Melanoma, which I have been battling for 25 years.

Last week, I suffered several days with pretty severe migraines. On Father’s Day, my wife noticed that my speech seemed slurred and I was having some coordination issues with my left side. She insisted that I could either get in the car with her and go to the ER or she would call an ambulance. I sure as hell wasn’t going to have an ambulance in front of my house for all the neighbors to speculate what was going on so I went with her.

AN MRI showed a very large tumor on my brain. This was a spot of melanoma that I had previously treated, but it decided to grow like wildfire recently

I called my Oncologist at Stanford to let her know what was going on. How many doctors’ give their patients their personal cell phone number? She immediately contacted the best neurosurgeon she knew at Stanford and they began arranging for my transfer. Stanford flew their helicopter up to pick me up so I could get an emergency surgery. The neurosurgeon fully removed a melanoma tumor that was the size of an avocado. When I came out of surgery, I had no memory of the flight or what had happened over the last couple of days. But, within hours of the surgery, my speech and mobility returned. I am finding typing and texting to be somewhat frustrating still.

So, the battle continues on! I am just so thankful that my wife noticed that something wasn’t right. I am also very thankful for my superstar medical team at Stanford. Seriously, I don’t think The Rolling Stones or the POTUS would have received care as good as I got at Stanford.