Please Help Curtis - Update From Curtis and Andrea
To all of our dear, dear friends,
As Andi and I sit here, wondering what to say, all we know is that a "Thank You" seems trite and hardly enough by ANY stretch of the imagination.
Neither of us expected the outpouring of love to be so far and wide. We are humbled by your generosity, unconditional love, support, advice, and most importantly, your amazing humanity. As well wishes and contributions continue to pour in, we wanted to take a moment and send all of you a message of thanks and acknowledgment.
Amazing. Truly amazing.
To give you a progress report, the last two weeks have been very scary for me, and a challenge. But I CANNOT express enough how this kind of loving energy being "heaved" at me has done for my overall outlook and confidence in my ability to face what is sure to be even more challenging in the weeks to come. So here it is in a nutshell...
I spent the better part of the day yesterday at the Stanford Cancer Clinic being poked and prodded by some extremely caring and knowledgeable professionals. The plan of attack is this....
On December 2nd I will undergo neck dissection surgery, at which time Dr. Mary Lalakea (amazing surgeon, kind, conscious and awake as hell) will remove the ever present, ever growing tumor in my lymph node, a portion of my neck muscle, 4 other nodes, and my tonsils (hopefully the primary source of the cancer). I should be in the hospital (Valley Medical Center, San Jose) for 4-5 days. Home for a recovery from surgery for approximately two weeks, then radiation everyday for 6 weeks to start. (My friends, Electra and Blondie should be able to light their "bling" off of me by then). :)
Andi will be up to her "beautiful smile" in care giving by then, and she would LOVE some company. So would I. Please come by for a visit. Yay!
I cannot impress upon all of you how important this "fund" has, and continues to be, as I have decided that I am going to fight this thing with everything I can muster. Being able to receive the best treatments available WILL give me an edge that could ultimately give me odds in my favor. I am infinitely grateful that you have shown up in my life at a time when I needed you most. It is a little weird reading "tribes" about me. I don't feel deserving of such a gift, and, I hope, and will return the favor when asked. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And....keep it coming!!!!! The love and support AND the money is helping a lot. Please don't stop.
In the bigger picture... I can honestly say that I have come to terms with the reasons why I have chosen this "movie". It is ultimately to teach me how to love. Love for others, and ironically, love for myself. I know that I have a phenomenal opportunity to heal myself of some of the wounds that have kept me separate from my usefulness to myself, and to the people that share this remarkable experience called life.
The biggest lesson here (I think) is that we are all connected. We WANT to be. It is why we all have shown up here. Because I believe that people in their CORE are decent, compassionate, honorable, somewhat bored with the "status quo", and have a burning desire to help each other in profound ways. Well, thanks to something that looks ugly, scary, and deadly, we have all been drawn to each other to do just that. So fucking ironic, and I am moved beyond words.
And lastly, to my best friend Arthur, I am fortunate and honored to have you. You have enriched my life beyond measure. Since we were 15 years old, I intuitively knew that this place would be REEEEEELY lonely without you. Thanks for the brotherhood and companionship, Artie. It's funny, with your help, I have always felt like I could do anything.
I will write again soon....
pumpin' the BIG Love back at cha,
Curtis and Andi
To donate via http://www.PayPal.com , send to friendsofcurtis@yahoo.com - Editor
10:17:02 PM 
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You've undoubtably heard the classic song "Take Five" performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Though Brubeck's name gets the glory, it's musical genius Paul Desmond that crafted the exquisite tune. Desmond wrote the delicious "Take Ten" in the same 5/4 (or 10/8) meter, hence the curious song titles. It features his refined and poignant alto saxophone again, along with the guitar stylings of Jim Hall and the lush bassline of Eugene Wright.
