Ok, so, the cancer is more serious than I thought, but it's also very treatable. Roughly 4000 Canadians get diagnosed with melanoma every year, and almost 1000 die from it. With guys, the typical scenario is, they don't see it, because it's on their upper back, and by the time anyone notices, it's at a later stage, and you're fucked.

Melanoma is the most deadly of the skin cancers, because it's the one digs down, and once it digs down a little deeper into the skin, cells can break loose, and you wind up with cancer in your lungs, brain, wherever else.

The scale is, .75 mm or less, and it's still on the surface, and very treatable. Ideally, you don't get even this far, but if you do, you're still ok, for the most part. Higher than .75, and it starts to dig in a little deeper, and you start having a higher and higher risk of it spreading into a node, and beyond.

In my case, they caught it at .37, so I'm in good shape, fortunately, but still, not .05, or .10, but .37.

Man, I had one doctor's appointment in the last 20 years, and she got me into a relationship with this great dermatologist. With how busy I am now, I can't say I would have sought out a dermatologist any time in the next few years. I dunno.

Geez, Luigi. If I hadn't, and she hadn't... This could very easily have been the end of me. Easily. But like so many times in the past, a little bit of luck has kept me alive for the foreseeable future.

Now I have surgery next week to attain 'clear margins', or something like that, and a commitment for some follow-ups, and even a chest x-ray to be safe, so I feel safe enough, but it's safety that relies on news from the experts over the course of a few weeks.

Ok, can I get back to talking about the friggin' music soon, PLEEEASE?