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 moreTag: Isolation
When 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 moreThe Loss of Taste Due to Cancer Treatment
The Loss of Taste Due to Cancer Treatment I’ve been a practicing maxillofacial trauma surgeon for over 30 years. Six years ago, I began my own journey through cancer treatment: chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, stem cell transplant, and CAR T-cell therapy. I write about the practical side effects that show up at home, not just on…
Read moreFrom Pain to Purpose
From Pain to Purpose Seven years ago, I didn’t choose this path. Cancer showed up on my doorstep, uninvited and unwelcome. It wasn’t a teacher I asked for, and I won’t call it a gift. Today, after seven straight years of treatment, I face a hard truth: the very thing I tried to escape shaped…
Read moreWhen Chronic Pain Shows Up as an Unwanted Teacher
Chronic pain changes you. I know that as a doctor who has treated it, and as a patient who lives with it. Chronic pain isn’t only a feeling in the body or an issue of physical health. It shifts your thoughts, your mood, and how you move through the day. It also pushes on your…
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