Thursday

March 5, 2026

    It's been a good week. 

James 1:17... Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variations or shadow due to change. 

    Tuesday, I met with Dr. Tran, my surgical oncologist.  She reviewed my CT and PET scan and outside of a kidney stone, everything came back clear, no signs of metastasis anywhere. She said the site looks good and I'm right where I should be. Again, because of the potential seriousness of merkel cell she is going to keep a close eye on me for another year. Check ins every 4 months and CT and PET scans every six. Once we pass the two-year mark, we can start checking in and testing every year. 

    Wednesday, I met with my gastroenterologist to discuss my colonoscopy results. We've been together for over 15 years now. As I shared, I was more inflamed than I had been previously, but not as bad as I've been in the past. She took samples of some polyps, and they came back non-cancerous. She was concerned about the size of some of the polyps and wanted me to see a specialist.  So, I will be making an appointment with Dr. Lee at UCI and having another colonoscopy in about 6 months. He will have more sophisticated equipment to take out any other polyps without tearing my colon. I'm good with that, but not happy about doing another colonoscopy. 

    Today, I saw the ENT to go over the MRI results. Again, everything looks clear and fine. Nothing stood out to be concerned about, but he wants me to check back in with him in six months.  So, I now have another specialist to check in with each year. I've been joking for a while that you know you are getting older when you see your specialists more than you see your primary care physician.  I've had 4 PCPs in my life: Reynolds, Frischer, Sotelo, and Jivraj.  I now have 9 specialists: a surgical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a hematologist/oncologist, a gastroenterologist, a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, a urologist, and an ENT. And somehow, I've never felt better. 

    I remember my students had a writing prompt once that they struggled with, but I knew my answer right away. The prompt asked them to write about a modern convenience that they used all the time but wished they didn't need. I told them after that I would have written about modern medicine. I was very glad it was available to me but wished I didn't need it as much as I did. I do thank God for the wonderful doctors, technicians, and nurses who spent so much time in school and practice to be available for me at this point in my life.  I believe I've shared how my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all passed away at 50-51. If I didn't have access to modern medicine and doctors, I wouldn't have made it this far, and with God's blessings, many more years to go. 

Psalm 139:16...Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them cam to be.

Psalm 39:4... O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am. 

    I'm still getting my 5 miles of walking in everyday and listening to the scriptures each time. I've recently finished 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st Chronicles. I'm up to chapter 8 in 2nd Chronicles. Two things recently stood out to me because they perfectly fit with our Sunday sermons and Psalm of the Day.  A few weeks ago, we were studying Psalm 119. One of the main ideas is the importance of the laws, commandments, and precepts in our daily lives. I was particularly drawn to verses 97-100 and how the scriptures make one "wiser than my enemies, more understanding than all my teachers, and understanding more than the aged." I was reminded of that when I was listening to the closing years of Solomon.  Here was the wisest man on earth and he stopped listening to God's commandments and started doing really, dumb things. 

    In a sermon from Mark 9:42-47 and how we need to remove the things in our lives that tempts us and lead us to sin. It was amazing listening to the good kings of Israel and how they continually neglected to get rid of the "high places" which were often used for idol worship. They neglected to rid the country of the things that drew them away and the Israelites continued to come back and sin again. 

    Another thing that has stood out to me recently is how important women were in many of the genealogies of the kings. Almost every king has their mother listed as well as their father, and there are daughters and sisters mentioned at times, too. Lastly, anyone ever hear of Sheerah? 1 Chronicles 7:24. She was a daughter of Ephraim and "built both Lower and Upper Beth-horon, and Uzzen-sheerah."  It's amazing the things you pick up on when you use other modalities to study the Word. 

Romans 15:13... May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.