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| 25 years ago, at about this time of year, while anxious over finishing my Ph.D, I had left the doctor's office after finding out that I had cancer. I headed back to the laboratory and ran into one of my lab mates. She was the first person I told. Saying the words "I have cancer." and seeing the shock on her face seemed to make it real. I told my advisor, and he gave me the day off. I went to see two movies in Harvard Square and think. Learning you have cancer, bring up all kinds of emotions that a 27 year old doesn't normally think about. It was a confusing day. Well, I would call Dana Farber in the morning, and because it is a matter of life and death they will have to see me right away and fix this. I called and they said, "We have an opening for an appointment in three weeks." |
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THREE WEEKS!! WHAT DO I DO UNTIL THEN!! |
| What I did was decided to find out everything I could about cancer in general and lymphomas in particular. After all, chemotherapy, I'm chemist. How hard can it be? I had access to the largest academic library system in the world. Medicine, as I found out is really hard, especially if you last studied biology in the 10th grade about 12 years ago. But I did pursue it. In a weird way I thought my life depended on it. In subsequent posts, I will explain what I learned about cancer as a scientist, but a medical dilettante. I will try to explain it in a way non-scientists can follow what I learned. |
| Stay tuned for more of the story. |
| (Cancer Chronicles is a series of status updates that account the events of 25 years ago when I went through a bout with cancer. Its purposes are multi-fold: catharsis, education, information, celebration, etc. ) |
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