HAI, there.
The sound of the intercom broke the silence in an exam-room-turned-storage-closet at Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Centre. “Attention, please. Code brown. Flood. Clinic B. 105,”...
Three more under my belt
Stepping into the late afternoon sun from the cancer centre, I can almost instantly feel my skin’s sensitivity to the heat. In the time...
Stoicism, cancer, and happiness
Throughout my experience with cancer, which spans a decade to days gone by when my mother was staring down her disease, I've had to find ways to keep moving forward through some of the most difficult days of my life.
The path is often challenging and surefootedness is never a guarantee. There are detours, unexpected water features, and shoe-sucking muck. It's never known what lies ahead, even if you're somewhere you've been before.
One night in cancerland
I can feel the cool breeze from the oscillating fan perched atop my dresser passing back and forth across my body.
It feels as if I've stepped into a cool room after being outside on a hot day, the artificial wind kissing my damp skin.
I'm having night sweats. Again.
On the map, but off the trail
Within the confines of the small examination room, Shannon and I nervously await the arrival of my oncologist. Although there’s always plenty riding on...
I’m not Just a Tourist
Nine months ago, I wrote a reflection called Am I Just a Tourist? after thinking about my relationship with illness as it relates to...
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Better!
If you've never been to a cancer centre, I hope that your streak of luck continues.
It's not that the experience is bad, it's just that it's always interesting.
The annexation of my liver
Friday morning I met with my oncologist to discuss the results of some scans that took place the previous evening.
I have a recurrence of colon cancer in my liver.
See Spot. Run.
“You’ve done this before?,” asks the CT Technologist. I nod, making a classic white-people-making-eye-contact-by-mistake face. You know the one: The spiel begins. “So, you...
A Tribute to the Young Carcinomie
A Tribute to the Young Carcinomie To the parents, real and would-be, who've had their choices stripped by cancer, whose special memories are tainted...