I got some particularly bad news yesterday afternoon, so to take my mind off
things I went to the local bookstore that sells publisher overuns and used
books.  I came across an interesting-looking tome in the "current events"
section.  The book is called, "Fighting for the Future: Will America
Triumph?", written by Lt. Col. Ralph Peters, USA (Ret.).  I gotta tell you,
even though the hardcover was published in 1999, and the foreward of the
paperback was written only ten days after 11 September, 2001, his analysis
of the current world-order is incredible.  Virtually every sentence could be
a quotable sound-bite; half the book is prophecy come true.  I don't usually
gush about somebody's opinion besides my own, but this guy--who appears to
be neither hawk nor dove, conservative nor liberal--has got his finger on
the world's geopolitical pulse like no one I've read before.  If you're
interested in the world situation (as many of us on this list seem to be),
find this book!

Ok, now for the bad news.  About a month or so ago (I think I let Kat know
around the middle of June) I went to see my physician about a lump on my
right breast that had been there a while wasn't going away.  The initial
diagnosis was "gynecomastia" based on an ultrasound and the fact that it was
painful.  Some things have happened in the meantime to warrant further
investigation, and the tentative results I got yesterday that it is, indeed,
breast cancer.  I see a surgeon tomorrow after a mammogram (NOT looking
forward to that--the tech I spoke with said that they are very difficult to
do on men, very painful, and she's only done a couple on men in the
thousands of mammograms she's performed).  The good news is they think the
tumor is "encapsulated" and is enclosed in a "sac".  If that's the case,
there won't likely be any treatment past surgery, and even the surgery will
not involved cutting the underlying muscle or lumph nodes.  If it's attached
to the pectoral muscle underneath, that's a completely different ballgame...

So, to those of you who believe in the efficacy of prayer, I'd appreciate it
if you'd shoot a couple up on my behalf.  If not, I could use a "virtual
hug". LOL!

I told Laura about it last night.  Since she has to go out-of-town on Friday
for follow-up treatment of her own cancer-related problems, it was, needless
to say, a pretty difficult evening.

Thanks, y'all.

Kyle