I have multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer. I do not think I should feel proud of that. I am not sure pride and cancer belong in the same sentence. Cancer came without warning. At first, I felt tired. Then I felt worn down. Before long, my body began to lose ground. A long time…
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The In-Between Days
Dave, Some days announce themselves as battles. Others slip into your life with just enough symptom to remind you that your disease is always working, but not enough to knock you down. For lack of a better term, I call those ordinary days. Ordinary is probably a strange word for them. Compared with what has…
Read moreWhen Treatment Becomes a Way of Life: The Emotional Weight of Thyroid Cancer’s Long Road
When Treatment Becomes a Way of Life: The Emotional Weight of Thyroid Cancer’s Long Road You didn’t understand the waiting. Before illness became part of your life, you thought treatment would be the hardest part. You watched patients move through diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. You understood the usual path. You had a solid grasp of…
Read moreFinding New Definitions of Normal
Finding New Definitions of Normal Before I got sick, I moved through each day without thinking much about it. I’d wake up, make coffee, go to the hospital for six hours of surgery, eat a quick lunch over a sink, answer emails, and head home. It all felt normal. Because life fills in that word…
Read moreThe Job No One Offered to Hire You to Do
The Job No One Offered to Hire You to Do When I got my treatment plan from my oncologist, I understood every line. After 34 years as a surgeon, that part felt familiar. What I didn’t understand, what no one warned me about, was the second job that arrived with the diagnosis. There was no…
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