Eric Holmgren Eric's Bad-Ass Angels

First off, be assured that this story has a happy ending.  It's just the beginning and middle that suck and will suck, respectively.


It starts with my cancer diagnosis.  Anal cancer.  It turns out there is a good kind and a bad kind.  Fortunately, I got the good kind and it was caught early.  Various scans have confirmed that it is limited to one tumor and a few nearby lymph nodes.  It hasn't traveled anywhere else in my body.  Having the "good kind" of ass cancer means that I won't have to have surgery.  Treatment is 6 1/2 weeks of M-F radiation therapy combined with relatively low-impact chemo (I'm told I won't lose my hair, for example), after which I will be cancer free.  See?  Happy ending. 


I have a great team of doctors, technologists and many others who are making it easy for me to feel confident about the medical part of this experience.  But it's my husband, my family and all of you, whom I love so very much, who make it easy for me to feel confident in my life ... at my core.


Treatment begins on March 20.  I'm told it starts out fairly easy and gets harder about 4 weeks in ... I can expect to have less energy and more pain toward the end.  Right now (early March), things seem normal-ish.  I feel healthy as ever and my day-to-day has not changed.  There is a "Ways to Help" section of this site and I don't yet know what to put there. I'm sure Rich and I will need some tangible kinds of support down the road, groceries or dinner dropped off, for example.  We'll populate that as we go.  For now, I'm cruising on all the love and spiritual/emotional support.


Thank you to Daniel Dallabrida for setting up this CaringBridge website. This way I can keep family and friends updated in one place. I appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.  If you feel moved to do so, consider donating to CaringBridge so this is available to others facing illness (This is not a donation to me).


Thanks. Love you! XOXO