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!
Tied for worst feelings ever
Tied for worst feelings ever: People assuming you beat cancer when you haven't, and reminding people you still have cancer and making them cry.
What is family?
Upon hearing the news and finding out that I had a "mass" in my brain, my best friend called her dad. He was in town the next day--asking the important medical questions, demanding answers, advocating on my behalf (because I was too out of it to know what was going on).
Back to work anxiety
Without going into too much detail that doesn't really matter, I was brought into a meeting and some comments were made that hurt my feelings. I don't think these comments were made to hurt me on purpose, but they were unfair and cut to the root of everything I have anxiety for in regard to returning to work with cancer and a new job.
What my mom thinks
We never thought of "strong" "healthy" independent Liz as getting sick. We should all be closer, but our lives have taken us in different directions and each of us is very independent and don't ask much of each other.