Patient & Researcher Blog

Here I aim to capture what I am learning as a newbie researcher from a patient perspective.

Living with a slow growing brain cancer

It is taboo for researchers to talk about their work before it is published.

I think that’s a bummer.

 

My favorite part about research is learning new things in real time. Here I share my observations as a learner and my n of 1 (personal) findings as a patient.

Note: I started blogging about brain cancer in 2008, at age 29.

I had no background or knowledge about healthcare when I began. Please excuse typos and other misconceptions. What you read here is me in real time, like a time capsule.

There are more than 500 posts here. Use this search to look for something specific. Good luck!

Brain surgery: the inside story (pun slightly intended)

I tell people brain surgery is easier than they think. The doctors put you to sleep and then you wake up X-amount of hours later and you never know what happened because you were asleep! You hurt, and you have to take it easy for a long time, and you can't go on any roller coasters for a while, but other than that it is all good.

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On Treatment Liz Salmi On Treatment Liz Salmi

Cancer dream

The crab keeps running past me, reaching his gigantic pinchers toward my legs and feet. Finally, after a few passes around the coffee table, he finally gets me and snaps a chunk of flesh from my calf.

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Newly Diagnosed, 2009 Liz Salmi Newly Diagnosed, 2009 Liz Salmi

Tennis dream

The reason this dream is interesting/significant is because, even though I write left-handed, I play sports right-handed. I think my subconscious is telling me that no matter what happens I can adapt. I was telling myself this in my sleep both figuratively and literally.

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Newly Diagnosed, Patient Blog, 2008 Liz Salmi Newly Diagnosed, Patient Blog, 2008 Liz Salmi

Making way for the new me

In the first dream I was cleaning my actual closet in real life. In the second dream I went to the house of someone where I felt like I left items. When I got there I threw away my old things. After I was done, I noticed that their house was messy so I cleaned the whole house for them so they'd come home to a clean house. They thanked me for my work.

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