…  my life changed forever.

On May 5th 2007 I woke up with serious abdominal pains that got worse as the day went on. By the end of the week I’d been sent home twice by the emergency doctors at the private hospital I’d gone to, with them refusing to do the ultrasound I’d asked for, telling me I just had gas pains. But when I went back on Saturday evening they finally realised it wasn’t a hairball and admitted me for observation and further testing. On Sunday around midnight I was transferred to the general hospital for an emergency operation. And a couple of weeks after that I was given the diagnosis – stage IV colon cancer with metastasis to the liver (later they discovered it had also spread to the peritoneum).

So it’s been a week of retrospection and introspection, but mostly it’s been a good week of being alive and feeling healthy. Unlike my friend Gaelen, I have yet to “beat the odds”. I was given a 50/50 chance of surviving for five years and I have to say that it feels pretty damned good to have reached the two-year mark. Meanwhile, the next PET scan is coming up next month and it always feels … well, scary as hell. But today the sun is shining and I am busy working on projects at home. Just letting you know where I am. And reminding myself to enjoy every moment as much as I can.

How are you enjoying today?