Merkel and Me

Thursday  February 27     One thing about foggy days, eventually the sun does come out, burn off the mist, and you can see clearly again. So, it was for us last week. Thursday was a rough day, but the sun came out on Friday and things became much clearer. It was a week of many examples of why we believe in God and how we see him working in our lives.      Friday, I received a phone call from my surgeon's scheduler.  She had been on the phone all morning with the insurance company and finally received an okay to proceed with the PET scan. At first the radiology department couldn't fit me in until March 14, but after some (I believe) pressure from my surgeon they were able to schedule me for Tuesday, the day before my surgery was scheduled. Later, that day they called back and moved the scan to Monday because having the scan on the morning before I was to receive the injection for my lymph nodes was not going to work. I was also able to schedule the MRI ...

 Thursday February 20     Today was a rough day, which was sad because it had been a great week of church activities, family visits, and Cathy and me time.      The only issue during the week is that we still hadn't heard from the doctor about the PET scan or brain MRI getting approved by insurance. I checked in a couple of times, but no answers. I prayed every day for the approval to come through, but it never did.  I also gave the situation completely to God and told Him I trusted that whatever happened it was for the good.       That leads us to today. I was supposed to hear by 3:00 PM what time they wanted me to check in tomorrow. When I hadn't heard anything by 3:30, I called the scheduler for information.  During the call we asked her if the doctor still wanted to do the surgery if the scans hadn't been performed yet. She checked and confirmed what we were afraid of, the doctor wanted the scans and didn't want to perform ...

Thursday February 13                   Last weekend was Cathy’s birthday.   We had a mini vacation to Newport Beach.   Stayed in a nice hotel, took lots of long walks around Balboa Island, Fashion Island, and Back Bay. We also enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Bayside restaurant in Newport Beach. Cathy wasn’t sure about going but I told her that it was important to me to celebrate her and this special birthday.   I also shared that she needed to be prepared, as we traveled this journey together, that there were going to be times that I needed to have these little get-aways, and there were going to be times I needed life to be as normal as possible.             Overall, a slow week.   We are still waiting for approval from the insurance company that the scans and MRI have been approved. My doctor wanted those before surgery so I’m curious if the surgery will b...

  Thursday February 6, 2024               It’s only been a week but we have already seen and felt God’s hand at work.   As we read more about merkel cell carcinoma, the importance of early detection was evident.   We can’t be sure how early mine was caught, but we do know that it could have lingered inside of me for much longer.   Originally, we thought it was a cyst and my dermatologist gave me the option to remove it or live with it.   Over the weeks between first appointment and removal, I considered just living with the “cyst.” A small voice inside my head kept telling me, get rid of it and so I did.   Thank you, God.   If it was still in me, the damage it might have done would have been catastrophic.             We shared the news with our fellowship group Thursday night and started sharing the news with family and friends on ...

  Thursday January 30, 2024               When your mother had cancer, your father had cancer, your brother had cancer, and you’ve been living the last 19 years with a medical condition that can lead to cancer, it’s not a great shock when you hear from your doctor that you have cancer. When you’ve also had numerous basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas removed it’s not a surprise when it’s your dermatologist sharing the news. What was surprising was finding out that the cyst you had removed wasn’t a cyst but was a rare form of cancer called merkel cell carcinoma.             Merkel cell carcinoma only affects 4 people out of a million. It can also be very aggressive and deadly.   It was the type of cancer that killed Jimmy Buffett. If it’s found early, there’s a 75% chance of living 5 or more years. My father died from a rare form of skin canc...