For the past two days, our primary focus was for Jay's leg to heal and mend from the infection. He has a homecare nurse following his progress at home and the antibiotics are working though his surgical wound is the worst that I have seen so far. He is relatively pain-free, has no fever and is well aware of the consequences if it doesn't heal. The nurse informed us that the next real concern is that it could re-open due to the location and that then it cannot be re-stapled so Jay is taking it as easy as possible. I think he is a little surprised at this little setback and he is reminded daily, by his body's reaction, of the seriousness of this operation. Yesterday and today we took a short walk, just up the street and back rather than around the block.

It amazes me how positive Jay remains and how philosophical he has become during this whole process. He handles the cleansing and aftercare like a trained professional and the courage he displayed when the staples were being removed was commendable; he only grimaced. I, on the other hand, broke out in a cold sweat, moaned quietly to myself and almost passed out.

We've learned that melanoma knows no cure and can only be kept in check by being super diligent with his immune system so Jay's challenges have really only just started. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on cancer research seeking a magic "cure" when to me, it seems the best way to handle it would be to prevent it from happening. It's discouraging to know that finding information about causes and preventions doesn't seem to be available (at least online). We have found all kinds of statistics regarding chemo or biotherapies, but very little on natural or holistic treatments to keep the immune system strong. The next step, the medically approved Interferon therapy (an immune-booster) makes it's recipients sick and it lasts for a year while not conclusively increasing the overall survival rate. Jay is leaning away from that process because to combat the side effects, the patients are required to take a bevy of other drugs. It seems that his determination to overcome this and the love he is receiving from his family and friends are the best tools he has in the fight against it.