In the waiting room, there are people everywhere, and I have never felt so alone. A woman across from me flips through a magazine. A man near the window scrolls through his phone. A cooking show plays on the TV in the corner, all bright voices and braised short ribs. We are all waiting, but…
Read moreCategory: Personal Essays on Living with life-threatening diseases
Relapse Mindset: How Cancer Therapy Never Really Ends
Before you’re diagnosed, you picture the same scene everyone pictures. The finish line. The last appointment, the final scan, the doctor saying “remission” like a door swinging open. You imagine walking out into ordinary sunlight, getting in the car, and driving toward a life with no disease left in it. For a lot of illnesses,…
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Relapse Mindset: How Cancer Therapy Never Really Ends
Before you’re diagnosed, you picture the same scene everyone pictures. The finish line. The last appointment, the final scan, the doctor saying “remission” like a door swinging open. You imagine walking out into ordinary sunlight, getting in the car, and driving toward a life with no disease left in it. For a lot of illnesses,…
Read more
Relapse Mindset: How Cancer Therapy Never Really Ends
Before you’re diagnosed, you picture the same scene everyone pictures. The finish line. The last appointment, the final scan, the doctor saying “remission” like a door swinging open. You imagine walking out into ordinary sunlight, getting in the car, and driving toward a life with no disease left in it. For a lot of illnesses,…
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The Road I Did Not Choose, and Why I Am Thankful I Stayed On It
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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