Cancer, chemo and commissions

Hello, it’s Update Time! It’s a-me, AH! this time around.

It’s been a real whirl of wind, these last couple years, and as some of you know, the latest bear I

have to cross is Stage III Colon Cancer. Whee!

I was diagnosed in late March, just 6 or 7 weeks ago, and had emergency surgery to remove a

thingie, a fiendish thingie, from my sigmoid colon. I started chemotherapy today (May 20 th ), so

here’s hoping for the best.

No real problems or side effects so far, except I (apparently) cannot have cold food and drinks

or ice for a while. I mistakenly had a cold beverage after dinner, and my throat instantly felt

like 80-grit sandpaper. Bizarre. Room-temperature beverages and sugar-free hard candy seem

to have done the trick. Saliva, you magnificent bastard!

I’ve had many nice comments and stories passed along, by people who have survived this or

known someone who has, and I’ve retained a pretty positive outlook, all things considered.

Talk to me after a few chemo sessions, we’ll see how my disposition is. I may go from “I feel

positive” to “WHY PUNY HUMANS BOTHER HUGHES? RARGH!!!”, for all I know.

Art-wise … when I got the diagnosis, I handed back most of my assignments. I’ve had to return

to the hospital a few times in the last month-and-a-half. I can’t guarantee being able to hand in

assignments, which is not fair to the clients. So, my BLACK CAT covers for Marvel Comics and

ZATANNA covers for DC Comics are, for the time being, no mo’.

But that leaves me time to get caught up on commissions, all outstanding commissions. The

attached images show how I’m doing on the Original Art Expo 2026 commissions. Got a few

left to do, especially some of the larger ones. It’s keeping pen to paper, though, which is good,

right?

~AH!~