Thursday

May 1, 2025

19 down, 6 to go. 

Romans 5:3-5

    More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

    Things are still going well but I'm starting to feel the effects of almost 3 weeks of radiation treatments on my tush.  It can be uncomfortable sitting on harder surfaces, or for long periods of times. My stomach was bothering me today.  Not sure if that's from the radiation or from something I ate.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow. Trying not to get overly concerned over anything that is a little out of the ordinary. I have a spot on my lefthand little finger.  It was originally a blister burn but is now more scab like.  If it isn't healed by Monday, I'll make a dermatology appointment.  My version of "let's be sure" medicine. Trusting God doesn't mean ignoring your own responsibilities. 

    Galatians 6:5

    For each will have to bear his own load.

    Highlights for this week: Tuesday, I had the in-home blood draw for the Signatera cancer test.  I don't know how long the turn-around will be. The test looks for markers to ascertain if the cancer is still there, or if I'm free and clear, for the moment.  There will be many prayers in the upcoming days that the test comes back negative.

    Wednesday was a day full of appointments.  While the cancer is foremost on my mind, I have to take care of the rest of my health, too.  First was my gastroenterologist for my twice a year check-up on my ulcerative colitis. She also wanted to be filled in on how my cancer treatments were going. I then went to visit a surgeon for a hernia repair sometime this summer. I finished with my radiation treatment and visit with Dr. Harris. He was pleased with how well the area is handling the radiation. The skin looks good, and the surgical scar is doing fine.  Cathy was feeling ill and didn't go with me.  I missed having her there.  I can't imagine going through this on my own. 

    Cathy and my story is another example of how God has worked in my life, and hers. We met on-line via a Christian introduction site. I saw her profile one day and said hello. As we learned more about each other we discovered that our lives had been circling around each other for years.  We both grew up in Lakewood, about 3 miles apart. We went to the same high school, but 4 years apart. She went to college with a teacher I worked with at Ramona, and another teacher at Ramona knew her because she had her child in the day care next to Cathy's office at the school district main site. When I bought my townhouse, it was just down the street from her parent's home, and her sister lived around the corner from my best man.  We had a number of mutual friends.  We think there were about 15-20 people at our wedding who knew us both separately before we became a couple. Would have liked to meet her earlier (I was 44), but God knew the right time.

    Ecclesiastes 3:1

    There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

    Today was an interesting day at UCI. There was a two-day strike by UC workers.  I didn't notice a difference yesterday, but today there was noticeable shortage of workers in the cancer clinic. I had been warned in a text from UCI that this was happening and assured they had everything under control.  There were less workers there, but everything was under control and the nurses and technicians had everything under control. After the radiation treatment I went to the optometrist and had my annual eye exam.  I ordered new lenses for my frames, and a brand-new set of sunglasses. Eyewear is expensive. 

    I've been thinking more about God's providence this week.  While I'm not happy that cancer showed up in my body, I'm actually happy that God allowed it to be discovered this year. I'm 64, next year I will be 65 and my private insurance will no longer be available to me.  I will be on Medicare.  We will get supplemental insurance, too.  While I'm hopeful that everything will work in similar ways, I'm glad that this surprising and serious medical situation occurred while I'm still under the system that I know best. 

    Colossians 1:17

    He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

    Philippians 4:19

    And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. 

    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 Thursday July 24, 2025     The dermatologist appointment went well, nothing new to be concerned about. Tuesday I will be having the special blood test which will highlight if there are any markers or antibodies present to indicate a recurrence of the cancer. Prayers would be appreciated.      Monday, I had my hernia surgery.  It went well, but the process had a few hiccups. My surgery was originally scheduled for 11 AM, but Friday the hospital called and told me it was switched to 4:30 PM because of an emergency surgery the doctor was needed for in the morning. I arrived at the hospital at 2:30 and taken to pre-op around 3:30. We then learned the doctor was just getting out of surgery and had another one before mine. I finally was in the operating room before 7:30 PM. The surgery was over around 10 and at that hour, the doctor decided to keep me in the hospital overnight. I had a nice single room and great nurses throughout the experience.  It to...
Read more
 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 ...
Read more
 Thursday April 3, 2025     Can you hear the muzak playing?  Yep, still on hold.     I did have a tele-appointment with my surgeon today, Dr. Tran, a follow-up to the original surgery. It was 5 weeks yesterday since the tumor was removed.  I was able to report that I'm doing fine, and the scar is healing nicely with no pain and no problems.  She even gave me permission to start golfing again, but to wait another week before returning to the gym. I've been walking every day getting my steps in.      Dr. Tran was able to confirm what we had already ascertained. The prior authorization for the radiation treatments had been denied. They will resubmit the request with further paperwork and plans. I'm imagining that the insurance company is thinking what many of my friends have asked.  "If the cancer is gone and the scans are clean, why do you need radiation?" I don't know that is the reason, but I'm guessing, maybe. I would tell the...
Read more