It is okay that you do not have an answer. We are searching for answers about our lives, retracing steps and examining choices in hopes of finding the reason, explanation, or thing that makes sense out of this senseless diagnosis. The “why” we desperately seek isn’t found by looking backward. It is discovered by looking…
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When Everything Changes: Finding Strength in the Faces of Strangers Turned Friends
Six years ago, I found myself seated in a wheelchair, weak and afraid, reckoning with words that would eternally mark my life as divided into “before” and “after.” Stage III Bone Marrow Cancer. The diagnosis hung like a weight in the air that I could neither lift nor escape. I was a retired Maxillofacial Trauma Surgeon who had spent more than thirty years caring for thousands of patients, mending broken bones and mangled faces. I thought I understood medicine. I thought I knew what suffering was. But nothing prepares you for that moment when you become the patient. If you are reading this now, having just been diagnosed and searching for something—anything—to make sense of what is happening to you, I want you to know: I understand that terror. I know it well.
Read moreLife After Cancer: The Milestones No One Talks About
At the end of my treatment, I was expecting some sense of relief or presence coming out the other side. Instead, I felt utterly confused and lost. There was a nice path to follow up to “remission,” but there’s so much more to that. Here’s what I learned about the milestones we go through on…
Read moreThe Power of Mindset: How Your Thoughts Shape Your Cancer Journey
When I received my cancer diagnosis, I discovered something that decades of surgical training hadn’t fully prepared me for: the profound impact our thoughts have on how we experience treatment and recovery. Through my own journey and in supporting countless others, I’ve witnessed a fundamental truth—the quality of your life after diagnosis depends largely on…
Read moreCreating Your Own Care Team
It’s crucial to keep in mind the emotional toll that health problems might take on you. The good news is that you don’t have to go through this alone; you have a full team of people behind you. Not only does treatment restore your body, but it also creates a startling sense of community by…
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