Alex Polson's Personal Blog

Shit-Storm with a Silver Lining

Posted: 2010-10-05T07:44:47Z[UTC] by Alex

This has been an interesting few months, to say the least. It's been quite the roller coaster ride.

A few months ago my Mum was diagnosed with colon cancer. She started chemo and radiation treatments right away and has been dealing with the related side-effects since. I have to confess I've been in a bit of denial about the whole thing. I've never been really close to anyone with the cancer, or any life-threatening disease for that matter so it's been new territory for me.

At around the same time we found out our house was infested with ants, we found out we made a mistake on our tax return for 2008 (I won't go into details except that it was a stupid mistake) and as all four of our animals are getting older we're dealing with one health issue after another, one of which required minor surgery just last night. It has truly felt like a constant shit-storm of negativity.

If you've read this far you're probably wondering where the silver lining is? It has to do with my Mum.

I went with her and my father to a pre-surgery appointment at Virginia Mason after she finished her chemo and radiation treatments about 6 weeks ago. They ran some tests and I'm happy to report lots of good news. The tumor on her colon has decreased in size by about 50% and along with that her colon is looking a lot more healthy than it was before the treatment. There's also no sign of the cancer having spread to other parts of her body.

She's still not completely out of the woods yet. She has her surgery to remove the tumor at the end of October and will likely have to endure more radiation and chemo just to be on the safe side but just getting this good news is a huge relief. Your continued thoughts and prayers are very much appreciated.

  • cancer
  • mum