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.
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.
I choose to feel good
If we can make ourselves feel bad for any reason (physically or emotionally), shouldn't we then have the same power to make ourselves feel good for any reason?
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.
You're not going to die, you know
He asked the same questions. He wondered the same things. I started to cry... perhaps with relief. "You're not going to die, you know."
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.