I apologize that it has been almost two months since my last blog post. For many this online silence translated to concern for my well-being, and I am sorry that I made people worry. I haven’t written a post recently for several reasons. First, I wanted to spend the Holidays and my winter vacation focused …
Essay Featured in the Washington Post – Please support NBTS so that more stories can be heard!
Honored to have my essay featured online and in today's print edition of the Washington Post, originally published in Pulse: voices from the heart of medicine. I wrote this essay before my recurrence, but it still captures the complexities of identity when faced with life-threatening illness. I would like to thank Diane Guernsey and Paul Gross from …
End Well ePatient Ambassador
Over the course of the past month, especially after writing my piece titled, "In Thinking About my Death, I Discovered How I Truly Wish to Live," I've heard through the grapevine that several friends are concerned I'm dying right now. To clear the air...I'm not. 😉 I can understand where this worry comes from. I …
Vote because lives depend on you: A Brain Cancer Patient’s Call to Get Out and Vote!
A version of this post also appeared on Medium I sit here, exhausted, almost unable to write after my first round of immunotherapy and radiation treatments for my second recurrence of a high-grade anaplastic oligodendroglioma (read: brain cancer). I see my friends actively participating in our democratic process: campaigning, phone banking, getting out the vote. …
Changing Course
September 25th, 11am: I sat in my doctor's office at UCSF waiting for the results of my MRI. I've been in this same office numerous times with a picture of mountains hanging on its sterile white walls. Even as a medical student, I wonder why we design doctors' offices this way. If you're going to make it all white, keep it all white without putting up a picture of a place patients would rather be. Otherwise, and preferably, make the room more warm, welcoming...human.
In Thinking About my Death, I Discovered How I Truly Wish to Live
For months, I had two task reminders saved to my computer’s desktop. The note on the left side of the screen listed the assignments I still had to complete for school. The note on the right side of the screen read: “Fill out advance directive.” These notes were a daily reminder of my conflicting identities. The left-side version of me: a 26-year-old medical student with many opportunities ahead; the right-side version of me: a young adult living with terminal brain cancer.
Senator John McCain’s Funeral Planning was not about Politics but a Lesson on how to End Well
A response to the New York Times piece, “How McCain Got the Last Word Against Trump.”
Engines Are Back On
Thank you all for the support after my last post about the rough start to treatment. I appreciate all the messages as well as food that has now filled my fridge! I've realized this has become the primary means most people receive updates regarding how I am feeling. After seeing a lot of people this …
Rough Seas: Confronting the “experimental” aspects of experimental treatment
Note: Anything I share in posts related to my treatment are my own personal experience. It does not reflect what may happen to someone else, or what others should do. More so, I share these posts as a glimpse into my experience living with brain cancer. Hopefully there are parts of my story that resonate, areas …
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Plan A (IDH2 Inhibitor) is a go: Precision Medicine and Privilege
In my last treatment post, Uncharted Waters: waiting for a treatment plan, I outlined three treatment options: Plan A: IDH2 Inhibitor Plan A-: Immunotherapy Plan B: Reirradiation and CCNU chemotherapy Over the past few weeks we have been waiting for two factors to determine which treatment plan I could do: insurance coverage and my genetic test …
Continue reading "Plan A (IDH2 Inhibitor) is a go: Precision Medicine and Privilege"
