I was hoping to make it up to LA on Sunday to meet up with VALKRYDERGUY but ended up in Palm Springs instead as my father in law was having a kidney removed due to a somewhat accidental discovery of kidney cancer.

He originally was scheduled for prostate surgery since his doctor had detected the early stages of prostate cancer just recently, and while in the hospital some other tests were done. They claim to have detected hepatitis but his doctor didn't buy it. They redid that test and some others the doctor ordered, somewhat out of frustration. And that's when they detected the kidney cancer (and the he does not have hepatitis)! So surgery was still on, but it had gained quite a bit in importance and we decided to make the trip the desert to be with him.

All indications are they caught it early, which is great news because kidney cancer is far, far more fast spreading and lethal than prostate cancer. He goes back for the prostate surgery in a month or so, depending on recovery from this procedure.