For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, LaserRot hasn't updated it's DVD pages for a while. Unfortunately, I honestly can't say when...or if...these pages will again be updated. In the meantime, there are several other very good sites out there that provide excellent,regularly-updated information...among my personal favorites are The Digital Bits, DVD Resource and DVD Review -- look them up and visit them regularly!

Okay, time to address the matters / questions at hand, a.k.a. what happened to the site. I'll tell all, but beware, this will be rather lengthy, will probably digress quite a bit, and will ultimately be absolutely pathetic. However, it will all make some sense (hopefully) at the end. Read on...and don't say I didn't warn you.

LaserRot hasn't been updated since early April 1998 due to my suffering from some nasty health problems. For a 34-year-old guy, I've my more than my share of medical problems over the past 10 years or so -- this all started when I had spinal cord surgery back in 1989. Several bodily parts of mine were in massive pain, and it was discovered that I had a couple of tumors and a four-inch cavity inside my spinal cord. The 1989 surgery helped a little, but the tumors couldn't be removed because 1) removal of one would paralyze me from the neck down (bad idea) and 2) removal of the other one at the time was deemed so difficult that it was not expected that I would survive the surgery (a rather worse option, to say the least).

Up until this year, I've had a "weird-feeling" left foot that occasionally made it a bit difficult to walk (a side-effect of that '89 surgery), and the tumors have been the cause of many nerve-damage-related problems to my right hand/arm (not to mention subsequent surgeries in various attempt to alleviate the pain/problems.)

Back in March, things got a bit worse...my "injuries" go through stages, and I was having difficulty walking and the pain in my arm was pretty bad. I also managed to hurt my back while attempting to move some stuff, and would up being unable to walk or sit up for a while (you'd think that after making hundreds of industrial back safety films over a five year period that I would know better...). Things got a little better, and I updated the site again.

However, in mid-April, things got worse again, and I was again unable to personally update LaserRot. I had been trying to find someone who could keep the site updated during these times, however due to a lack of funds/income from the site, no-one wished to undertake this. (The entire site is funded solely by myself, and running a website like LaserRot isn't inexpensive. Sadly, due to a lack of sponsorship interest, I could not hire someone to keep up with the updates. I've had several groups interested in advertising, but unfortunately nothing came of them.

Anyway, one lovely morning, disaster struck...my neck started hurting and within a couple of minutes I found myself almost completely paralyzed -- both legs, arms, and the entire left side of my torso -- and with unimaginable pain coming from my neck. I don't recommend that anyone follow my example. So, I was rushed to the hospital and they discovered that my tumors had hemorrhaged, and basically I spent some quality time in the hospital. Thankfully the quick actions of the emergency room / hospital staff helped, and I'm still around. I'd been told by most of my doctors over the last ten years that should my tumours ever hemmorhage, I should expect to become fully-paralyzed and then would probably be dead within minutes -- needless to say, I'm glad to prove them wrong...!

So for the past couple of months or so, I've been slowly recoving from this mess, and am now permanently disabled from my injuries. While I did get my left arm fully back (woo-hoo!), as well as parts of my torso and my legs, I've only got two fingers working/feeling on my right arm (while I can move my right hand and arm, I can't feel anything). I had to slowly learn to walk again on numb legs, and will probably have to use a cane for a long time to come.

I've now got gobs of medical appointments and referrals I've been going to so see what can be done about all this. My wife and I also got some rather unsettling news this past Friday when it was discovered that they now found some tumours in one of my kidneys (yikes) and that there is a very high likelihood that I suffer from a somewhat rare genetic/hereditary disease called VHL (Von Hippel-Lindau Syndrome -- feel free to look it up in your friendly neighborhood search engine) that basically causes nasty tumors to grow in various parts/organs in your body. Worse, there's a 50/50 chance that my two children have this disease as well, which is causing us all lots of worry (the last thing I want is for my kids to ever have to suffer any of this themselves). The DNA testing that it being done on me is expected to confirm this disease.

So, that's the story of what has been happening to me and why there hasn't been any updates to LaserRot since April. I warned you...pretty pathetic, eh? Anyway, needless to say, thanks to all these increasing medical problems that recently occurred, LaserRot is absolutely the least of my worries at this time. I honestly can't predict when...if ever...you should expect to see the next update occur on LaserRot. In the meantime, I've left the site up there should anyone be interested in reading past reviews, etc.

Wish I had better news for the fans out there, but I hope this little posting will set matters straight. My family has a long road ahead of it right now, and my first priority right now has to be my health. Thanks for understanding...

On a final side note, I am going to see lots of hospital time coming up in the near future and I've been wanting to obtain one of those wonderful Panasonic L-10 portable DVD players to keep me occupied during the hospital stays -- if you've ever had an extended hospital stay, you know you can only watch so much "regular TV with awful reception" or read so many mysteries in a row before wanting to scream. The question is...does anyone out there know where I can get one of the L-10's at a reasonable cost? Most of the places we've located have asked upwards of US$1200-$1400 for the unit, which unfortunately we simp,y cannot justify at this point in time. If anyone knows of a place which isoffering a much better discount on this unit, I would very much appreciate it if you could let us know. What can I say, if I have to be in the hospital, I might as well have some good films to watch (Jeff...a DVD and movie fan through and through!).

Best wishes to everyone,

Jeff Krispow

laserrot@laserrot.com