Whither Allen Lowe?

[Dan Gould]

Anyone communicated with him lately? I see it's a month since his last post, and he's been oddly silent on FB too. 

Hope his treatments aren't debilitating or his health taken a turn for the worse ...

[Jim Duckworth]

I communicated with him very briefly last week, but cannot make any claim as to his general well-being.

[Dan Gould]

Well it's good to hear that he's communicative, even briefly.

[Chuck Nessa]

I broke down and messaged him tonight. He responded and said he is having a rough recovery but signs are good for the future. He thinks it will be months before he is fully functional.

[clifford_thornton]

yeah, I talked to him the other day and that seems to be the case. Don't want to say too much here but if you have his contact info, do reach out to him.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

hope he gets well soon

[Hardbopjazz]

Get well, Allen.

[GA Russell]

I'm sorry to hear this.  Best wishes Allen!

[mikeweil]

He posted on facebook that his recovery is slow, but it seems to progress. Wish him well.

[JSngry]

Don't/won't do Facebook, but Allen, if you've made it far enough along to read this page, know that I am pulling for you, big time. You need your energy, no doubt, but just know that the music world needs yours, so....get well, be well, and stay well unless and until the options are all gone.

[AllenLowe]

hi everybody, sorry I missed this earlier. Much appreciated. It's been a nightmare of a year, and for about the first half I had to struggle just to retain my sanity and figure out if it was worth going on (thanks to my wife I stayed in some control). Basically, I didn't sleep from January - July except in short bites of 15, 30, 45 minutes, and the nightly struggle almost pushed me over the edge. Things started getting better in July and I can now make 2 or 3 hours of sleep at a time.

I had a very rare case of sinus cancer, and the surgery to remove the tumor plus the chemo and radiation just beat the hell out of me. Basically I am now suffering from radiation poisoning, my face is a mess, but we found a plastic surgeon in Boston who is supposed to operate the end of this month and do facial reconstruction. I still have trouble breathing, but it is much better. After this surgery I should be more functional, with 2-3 more surgeries in the next 2-3 years. But I am playing and composing again. And I have had about 5 scans which show the cancer is gone.

Been thrown a bit to find out that Ken Peplowski, the nicest guy on earth, has multiple myeloma, and that my bass player, Kevin Ray, had a massive heart attack last month; not to mention that one of my closest friends has Parkinson's. Still, we go on. Hopefully I will be recording again by next Spring; ESP has a 2 CD set of mine coming out in November that I am very proud of. So things look semi-hopeful.

Love to everyone.

Edited Tuesday at 11:45 PM by AllenLowe

[JSngry]

Stay strong.

[ep1str0phy]

Hang in there, man. A lot of people are rooting for you! 

[Rooster_Ties]

Oh man, hang in there! Glad things are improving, and all good thoughts being sent your way.

Edited Wednesday at 2:10 AM by Rooster_Ties

[ghost of miles]

Best wishes, Allen, for your continuing resilience and strength, and for sustaining a recovery that enables you to keep carrying out what you love to do.  

[danasgoodstuff]

6 hours ago, AllenLowe said:

hi everybody, sorry I missed this earlier. Much appreciated. It's been a nightmare of a year, and for about the first half I had to struggle just to retain my sanity and figure out if it was worth going on (thanks to my wife I stayed in some control). Basically, I didn't sleep from January - July except in short bites of 15, 30, 45 minutes, and the nightly struggle almost pushed me over the edge. Things started getting better in July and I can now make 2 or 3 hours of sleep at a time.

I had a very rare case of sinus cancer, and the surgery to remove the tumor plus the chemo and radiation just beat the hell out of me. Basically I am now suffering from radiation poisoning, my face is a mess, but we found a plastic surgeon in Boston who is supposed to operate the end of this month and do facial reconstruction. I still have trouble breathing, but it is much better. After this surgery I should be more functional, with 2-3 more surgeries in the next 2-3 years. But I am playing and composing again. And I have had about 5 scans which show the cancer is gone.

Been thrown a bit to find out that Ken Peplowski, the nicest guy on earth, has multiple myeloma, and that my bass player, Kevin Ray, had a massive heart attack last month; not to mention that one of my closest friends has Parkinson's. Still, we go on. Hopefully I will be recording again by next Spring; ESP has a 2 CD set of mine coming out in November that I am very proud of. So things look semi-hopeful.

Love to everyone.

Love to you and yours Allen.

[Big Beat Steve]

I can only second (or third or whatever) what everyone else said. Hang in there, Allen, I'm crossing my fingers for a full recovery that will happen as fast a humanly possible. Your contributions to music matters are needed very much.

[Teasing the Korean]

Sending positive vibes.  

[Brad]

Hope things are now on the upswing. Will keep you in my thoughts. 

[mjzee]

Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery!

[mikeweil]

You know I'm almost continuously crossing my fingers that all goes well, Allen!

[J.A.W.]

Wishing you all the best.

[Guy Berger]

Wow.. that's rough, Allen.  Glad to hear you seem to be on the mend despite a tough year, and sending lots of positive vibes.

Guy

[clifford_thornton]

Allen, we need you here, and I'm glad things are on the mend, albeit slowly. I heard from Kevin the other day and didn't know until then that he'd had a heart attack! This is the first I'm hearing about Peplowski though. Yikes.

[sgcim]

Man, you're a very strong person to get through all of that, Allen. Let's hope the worst is over.

Horrible to hear about Peplowski. I don't know anything about that disease; is the prognosis good? He's the nicest guy, and greatest clarinet/sax player around. I used to give him rides to the gigs that we did together, and felt like it was an honor to do so. One time he walked up to me and said, "I like the way you play". It took me a few hours to process that!