The "Hotel Melanoma" moniker is a metaphor for living with my particular brand of cancer. Except for those lucky few of us deemed "cured", all we cancer survivors are guests of one of the many, many branded hotels in the "Hotel Carcinoma" chain. We can check out any time we like, but we can never leave. Meanwhile, let's be livin' it up; and please support cancer education, prevention, and treatment research.
Happy First Birthday in Heaven, my friend! For Donna, to the tune of “My Girl” from The Temptations…
We've got sunshine on a cloudy day
When it's cold outside we’ve got the month of May
Well I guess you'd say
What can make us feel this way?
Our girl (our girl, our girl)
Talkin' 'bout our girl (our girl)
We've got so much honey the bees envy we
We’ve got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees
Well I guess you'd say
What can make us feel this way?
Our girl (our girl, our girl)
Talkin' 'bout our girl ( our girl ooh)
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooh yeah
We don't need no money, fortune, or fame (ooh hey hey hey)
We’ve got all the riches baby her fans can claim (oh yes I do)
I guess you'd say
What can make us feel this way?
Our girl (our girl, our girl)
Talkin' 'bout our girl (our girl)
(Talkin' 'bout our girl our girl) We've got sunshine on a cloudy day
With our girl (Our girl)
(Talkin' 'bout our girl our girl) We've even got the month of May
With our girl (our girl, woah)
She's all we can think (our girl)
(Talkin' 'bout our girl our girl)
Talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout our girl (our girl, woah)
Too sad and hollow to find the right words of remembrance right now, so just my rendition of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”…
Just yesterday evening, they let me know you were gone.
Donna, the fans you made did descend on you.
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song,
I just can't remember all the friends of you.
I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,
But I always thought that I'd see you again.
Won't you look down upon me, Jesus,
You've got to help me make a stand.
You've just got to see me through another day.
My heart is aching and my soul’s in crash land,
And I won't make it any other way.
Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,
But I always thought that I'd see you again.
Been walking my mind to an easy time,
My back turned towards the sun.
Lord knows when the mole wind blows it'll turn your head around.
Well, there's hours of time, got the megaphone primed, to talk about things to come.
Sweet dreams of frying machines in pieces on the ground.
Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end.
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,
But I always thought that I'd see you lady, one more time again, now.
Thought I'd see you one more time again.
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now.
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you, fire and rain, now.
I finally stopped procrastinating and made an appointment with my favorite university hospital dermatology clinic (where I don’t compete with tattoo removals and other cosmetic stuff for an appointment slot). So next month it’ll be time to get naked in front of young female dermatology residents who look to me like they’re young enough to be my granddaughters. I should feel sorry for these kids for having to make a close inspection of my tattered and unprepossessing carcass. But I don’t, because they chose this line of work and on completion of their residency training will be making the big bucks. And some melanoma researcher friends have placed dibs on any melanoma tissue samples I may spawn in the future, so if I have a new primary at least some good may come out of this appointment.
Looking forward to having the most fun an old fellow can hope to have in public without risking an indecent exposure charge, I’ll sign off with The Hotel Melanoma rendition of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”…
I saw her standin' there by the mole map machine
I knew she must a been about seventeen
Heart beat was goin' strong
Wearin' my fav’ sarong
An' I could tell it wouldn't be long
Till she was with me, yeah me,
An' I could tell it wouldn't be long
Till she was with me, yeah me, singin'
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
She smiled so I got up and asked for her name
That don't matter, she said,
'Cause “Skin Doc”’s nickname
Said can I show you mole where C can be ingrown
An' next we removin' on
She was with me, yeah me
Next we removin' on
She was with me, yeah me singin'
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
Said can I show you mole where C can be ingrown
Next we're viewin' on
She was with me, yeah me
And we'll be viewin' on
An' singin' that same old song
Yeah with me, singin'
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
I love Doctor Mole
So put some younger eyes on my boondocks, baby
I love Doctor Mole
So come an' take your time an' lance at me
My blog reflects an ongoing quest to find the good stuff and the funny stuff I've stumbled into during my stay at The Hotel Melanoma since receiving a Stage IIIc diagnosis in 2003. And to raise awareness about this relatively unknown brand of cancer. If you find it of value in your own quest, please share it with others and make a donation to your favorite melanoma nonprofit organization to fund melanoma education, prevention and treatment research. If you're wondering why my golden retriever, Jordan, is pictured here, well, he actually writes most of my posts and he's a lot better looking than me.
