Day 4

Well, missed a day yesterday. Felt miserable and when I tried to eat, got even sicker and was pretty much down all day. Got a few hours sleep and am a bit better today. I have managed to eat a few servings of cream of wheat, but nothing else.

I got a great "get well" video sent to me by all the autocross folks at the ER event today, brought a smile to my face, thanks guys and gals, its means a lot! I was also told that all the winners of PAX money had donated it to help me out with bills, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You guys really are the best!

I was asked to set up a way to get donations to me, so I opened an account at Bank of America. If you would like to help, I will post a way tomorrow to do so by just stopping by any Bank of America and make a deposit to this account.

I was also asked to give more details of the illness. Well, trouble started in late August with some pain on my lower right abdomen. It got progressively worse and spread to most of the right side. I fought it for a few weeks, but I was able to eat less and less. I finally realized that something serious was probably going on. Finally ended up getting so sick that I went to Baylor Plano Emergency Room on Sept. 21st (I would have gone to a regular doctor sooner, but no health insurance). They ran tests and said my liver looked OK on the x-rays and sonograms, but the gall bladder had several stones and was probably causing the problems. By this time I was down to only being able to tolerate liquids (without any fat of any kind in it). I went to the surgeon the next Tuesday, found out the costs of the surgery and set about gathering the funds. Within 2 days time, the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Assistance Fund looked over my case and decided to help. I scheduled the surgery for the following Tuesday, Oct. 6th. By the time I went in for surgery, I had lost 22 pounds in just over 30 days and I was already thin. I've been off from work since and looks like it will be a while before I go back. Unfortunantly, being a contractor, I have no short term disability, so no work, no paycheck.

Well, that's it for today, it hurts to sit for more than a few minutes at computer.

Dennis R.