Thursday

May 8, 2025

24 down, 1 to go.

    Today was my penultimate radiation treatment. Tomorrow I am done. The journey isn't over though as I've shared before.  There will be at least 1-2 more years of every 3-month checkups, tests, and scans. 

    I'm finally starting to feel the effects of the radiation this week. The skin is puckering and blistering in certain areas, it feels tight, and I feel more soreness when I'm sitting down, especially on things that are not well-padded. Otherwise, I'm still doing great.  I saw the radiation oncologist yesterday and while noting the affected areas of skin, he is still very happy with my progress and overall situation. This is the last time I'll see him until my three-month check-up.

    I have come to appreciate my doctors, their staffs, and technicians through this process.  Not just for how nice and kind they are and how well they are do their jobs, I've also come to appreciate the time, energy, and effort they had to put in to become excellent at their jobs, and how God prepared them for the people who would need them, me included. Years before I learned I had cancer, they were studying, training, and preparing for the day God sent me to their office.  It wasn't luck or good fortune that I found my "bump," or that my dermatology pathologist discovered it was merkel cell carcinoma.  It wasn't luck or good fortune that I was sent to a surgical oncologist who was an expert on merkel cell and writing papers on it.  It wasn't luck or good fortune that she in turn sent me to a radiology oncologist who was able to design a treatment plan for me and who had technicians working for him who are great at their job (including one who had a connection to somebody in our fellowship group).  It was God's plan and God's providence, for His purpose, and for His glory, and my good. 

    Back in February Cathy and I won a gift certificate to Morton's from our church during the marriage conference.  We are using it tomorrow to celebrate the end of my radiation treatment. I want to again, thank everyone who has been praying for Cathy and me through the past four months, and I hope you will continue to keep us in your prayers as we navigate the next few years of tests and scans, hopes and worries, about the cancer. I also want to thank, one more time, all the doctors, nurses, and technicians who have been with me during this time.  I don't know if I can truly convey how much I am impressed and grateful for the desire they had to help people, the time and study they spent learning their craft, and the years of practice and service they put in to be excellent at their jobs.  Thank you, one and all. 

Lamentations 3:22-23

    The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. 

Psalm 31:19

    Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind.

    Even though tomorrow is my last day of radiation treatment, it is not the end of my body's battle with cancer. I will continue this blog into the future, not just to share what is happening to me, but to share what God is doing to help me, comfort me, and guide me. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

    Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Psalm 23:1-2

    A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.

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