Support for this podcast comes from Celebrity Series, inviting you to Jazz Along the Charles,

a free outdoor concert along DCR's Charles River Esplanade on Saturday, October 7th.

Here 25 bands interpret one Boston-inspired setlist in their own styles along DCR's Charles

River Esplanade, visit JazzAlongTheCharles.org.

Funding for this podcast comes from MathWorks, creators of MATLAB and Simulink Software,

celebrating the pace of engineering and science, learn more at MathWorks.com.

In the fall of 2019, Alexa Morrell, a busy working mom with a one-year-old at home, took

a weekend getaway to Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

It was the first weekend away from my son with my friends for a girl's weekend, so it

was really just like a fun time to just take my mom hat off, like it was a weekend of

laughing, going to the beach and going out to eat.

Well, it didn't really turn out like that, because Alexa began noticing something was

wrong with her body.

There was blood in her stool.

It was on and off for almost two weeks, and then at the end of two weeks, it was a lot

of blood and at that point, I was like, I mean, could made a mental note, like, okay,

if this doesn't go in two weeks, I'm going to go to the doctors.

Alexa did eventually have to go to the doctor.

Her primary care physician thought it was probably hemorrhoids, not a huge deal, but

ordered a colonoscopy just in case.

Well, that colonoscopy led to a CT scan the next morning, which led to an agonizing weight.

I kept calling the hospital, let's see if there was any update, and at 4 p.m. is when

...