How cancer transformed this physician

“Wouldn’t it suck if you made it all the way through residency and then got cancer at the end?” my buddy Ron, a fellow medical student, and master of dark comedy, joked.  I winced at the thought.  God has a funny way of foreshadowing. Three-quarters of the way through pathology residency I noticed my feet were starting to itch, especially at night. It was a deep itch. I scratched so hard it bled. I thought I hope I don’t have Hodgkin’s, and then put it out of my mind. I had a pile of cases waiting for me in surgical pathology. Four months and 20 pounds-lost later, I could barely stand up long enough to put on mascara in the morning without needing to sit down for a break. Still, I kept working. The nighttime cough was getting worse, and I was growing tired of sleeping on beach towels after soaking the sheets. At urgent care, I was diagnosed with bronchitis and allergies. A chest X-ray would have revealed a mediastinal mass the size of a lemon, if one had been done. Continue reading ... Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how.
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Oncology/Hematology Source Type: blogs