I'm still here!

Well, I'm still alive. The FBI says I was a victim of a scam they so imaginatively call "The Hit Man Scam," and the local police couldn't even find out that much. Apparently, the scam started in Russia in 2006 targeting people in the Pacific Northwest, and by now it can come from anywhere and find you all over the United States. So many people in countries less rich than ours think that each individual American is rich, so we make their favorite marks. Thanks for all of you who emailed me or commented and expressed your concern.

A bigger problem is my pancreas. Test results are ambiguous. The biopsy could only obtain fluid from the cyst, no tissue, because of the difficult location of the pancreas. My doctor wants to watch and wait and repeat the test in 3 months. He has decided my pain doesn't come from the pancreas. There's no evidence of this, he just decided it. The pain is right where the tests showed the cyst to be. My MRI indicated a mucinous cystadenoma, which the Mayo clinic website says is precancerous or cancer. I'm thinking of going to another doctor for a second opinion. I know the pancreas is very hard to get to, and that is why most cancers are so advanced by the time they are found. As a result, pancreatic cancer is almost always terminal. Here's a chance to catch one early, but the guy's doing nothing. But it's still early. Thanks for asking.

I want to write soon about Mitt Romney and other topics, but for today let me just share with you this morning a photo of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, one of the most beautiful places on earth.