Hey, everyone …
THANK YOU to long-time supporter JR, whose $25 donation yesterday (with a note: “Not sure how much your copay is, but hopefully this helps” brings our annual fundraiser total to (as of 5am) $1,028!
Before going any further (it gets a little weird), let me mention that today is a “FIREHOSE FRIDAY” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper, with no email edition but about 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you here at our web edition.
That “copay” remark from JR refers to yesterday’s update, in which I mentioned a medical appointment. I expected a 45-minute thing, but it turned into a four-plus-hour thing (not including an hour or so of travel time). A big chunk out of my usual work time, which is why I decided to go “web-only” today. Why more than four hours? Read on if you’re interested. But first:
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
We’re $1,723.50 short of our goal. Once we reach $2,751.50, supporter GL will “match funds” to get us to our goal of $5,503.
So: I went to the doctor to find out what kind of procedure I’d need to repair a hole in my left retina. Good news! The hole is too small to bother with, no surgery needed.
BUT!
Well, let me go with more good news: I PROBABLY don’t have cancer.
The four hours was all about multiple rounds of imaging because they saw something else in my eye. Optometrists doing regular eye exams have been mentioning a “freckle” in my eye for a decade or so, but the imaging at the specialist says it’s bigger than that. Ultrasound (one of, IIRC, four kinds of scans) says it is shaped “consistent with a choroidal melanoma.”
Which means more imaging every three months for probably a year to see if it is growing, changing, etc. It’s hard to biopsy the back of the eye, so all they can really do is watch and guess, then (if necessary) hit it with radiation, lasers, or surgery to remove the mass (or, possibly, the eye).
Am I worried? Yes. But there are worse things than rocking a Snake Plissken eyepatch for the rest of my life, which sounds like both a stretch and the worst even remotely likely outcome. Fortunately I have decent health coverage (through my wife’s employer).
If I was cynical, I’d say a cancer scare was just the thing I could use to get y’all to
SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
Good thing I’m not cynical, huh?
I do hope you’ll support us because we bring you important content reliably, not because ooh, scary, poor Tom.
And I also hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily