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!

Liz Salmi 10/13/15 Liz Salmi 10/13/15

David, Part 1: When your brain tumor friend starts hospice

That was the weirdest fucking goodbye of my entire life.

Liz Salmi 11/23/14 Liz Salmi 11/23/14

I wish Brittany Maynard had met other 29-year-olds with brain cancer

I have known people who have died from brain cancer, and I know people who are still living with this disease. I wanted to tell Brittany to wait it out--you don't know how fast these things will bring you down. I wish Brittany gave herself time to meet other people like herself and to find out what life can be like for a 29-year-old with brain cancer. But who am I to tell a stranger what to do?

Liz Salmi 6/16/13 Liz Salmi 6/16/13

Eric Arons

I don't know why he popped up in my mind this week, but he did. I checked out his Facebook page and noticed all the recent posts were of friends posting well-wishes on his page. He wasn't writing anything. Photos appeared of him with friends... except instead of him playing disc golf, he was in a wheelchair.

Liz Salmi 10/21/12 Liz Salmi 10/21/12

Questions submitted for the 2012 National Brain Tumor Society Summit

Before I left for the National Brain Tumor Society's annual summit I asked The Liz Army blog readers if you had questions you would like me to ask doctors and health care professionals I would presumably meet at the event.

Liz Salmi 1/11/12 Liz Salmi 1/11/12

Erin: founding member

But in the spirit of Erin and her outright frankness, I feel it is my duty to admit that she will be next, in a line of amazing people I've known, to lose their life to a brain tumor.

Liz Salmi 8/20/10 Liz Salmi 8/20/10

Taking a break from temozolomide

I am fortunate to be in a position to take a break. I don't remember what a normal body feels like. I know everyone is tired after a day of work, but it is serious work to stay motivated to go on a walk. (Brett keeps me motivated.)