Ok, so I’m watching a lot of “This is Us.” It’s about a family and it always has some “AWWWW” factor at the end – a little twist, a connection, something.

Anyways, it reminded me of a little bone I have to pick with Hollywood.

In the show, one character has “Stage 4 Stomach Cancer.” That’s pretty much all that they say. And from the very beginning, they’re meaning it the way a whole lot of people see that diagnosis…

A death sentence.

And because of this factual inaccuracy perpetuated on TV and movies, it made an early “Stage 4 Colon Cancer” diagnosis pretty scary for us, because it really seemed that way at first.

But the staging and treatment of cancer is a lot more complex than that. I mean, obviously. We have every reason to believe that Preston could go cancer free and we’re proceeding in that direction.

I don’t know why I needed to share this observation out into the internet void. Maybe it’s to help everyone look past our cursory medical knowledge and check our assumptions. Perhaps it’s because I’m growing weary of the pity in people’s eyes when they jump to the conclusion that our time with Preston is limited. Maybe it’s just because “This is Us” made me cry and I’m still mad at them.

Either way.

In summary: Stage 4 Cancer is treatable.

Now you know, the rest of the story.