Merkel and Me

 Thursday February 26, 2026      Anniversary day. One year ago, I had my surgery to remove the cancer from my backside. I'm meeting with Dr. Tran next week, but she called me today to talk about the CT and PET scan (more on that in a minute).      My last post shared that Cathy and I were going to the Marriage Event at our church. Over 250 couples came and enjoyed a great dinner, a couple of fun games, and a fantastic message from Pastor Bobby on Malachi 2:14, "The Wife of your Youth." Saturday, we went to Las Brisas in Laguna Beach for Valentine's lunch. Not only is Las Brisas where we had our first date, but we also had our engagement date, and our first lunch as husband and wife there. It all started 21 years ago on March 6th.      I had 5 different doctor's appointments and/or procedures the past two weeks. It started with a blood test for my hematologist checking on my iron levels. It's better than last time so we are going to monit...

 Friday February 13, 2026     Friday the 13th but nothing scary going on here. I just received the results of my blood test, and it came back with another 0. Never any guarantees, but a year's worth of zeros I think means that my cancer was confined to the one spot and my surgeon, and the radiation, got it all. There are still tests to go and another year to monitor, but lots of reasons to feel confident and hopeful.      Now, on the other hand, my colonoscopy was another test/procedure that is going to lead to more tests and procedures.  I was more inflamed than two years ago (even though my condition has never been more under control) and there were polyps. Because of my situation, my GI wants me to see a specialist at UCI and undergo another colonoscopy in 3-6 months where he will check things out and remove anything that looks fishy. I'm not overly worried because there is no rush to get this taken care of. My GI said we will talk about it at my ap...