Merkel and Me

 Tuesday April 14, 2026     I probably should have written this last Tuesday to recognize that it was the one-year anniversary of the beginning of my radiation treatments. Six weeks of driving to Irvine, Monday through Friday, lay on a table, and have a machine shoot two, 45 second zaps of radiation at my surgical site. I never felt anything, just heard the machine go "buzz." As I've shared, I didn't have any effects for most of the first five weeks, started feeling and seeing the effects during the final week and for about two weeks after. Two of the ladies we know that have been going through breast cancer treatments have both started their radiation treatments in the last week or so. I know they will find it easier than chemo, but they will still need prayers for what it does to the skin and our bodies.  As my radiation oncologist told me, "We are affecting that area down to the cellular level."      My extra colonoscopy was a breeze, one of the bes...