I have the pleasure of having medical students and residents in clinic with me a lot of the time. Their purpose while in clinic is to learn. Learning objectives vary depending on the trainee. For example, a third-year medical student’s goal while at the cancer centre might be to learn how to give bad news […]
Until recently, I was following an eighty-three-year-old man who has pancreas cancer. I don’t think he was ever in the road construction business, though I know he’s done his fair share of driving over the years. We had a lovely exchange about roads a few months back that I would like to share. Bill (not […]
A colleague recently had a baby. Her patients were divided between a few medical oncologists to continuously deliver their medical care while she is on maternity leave. I met one of these patients a few months ago. While getting to know him, he said the most interesting thing. Mr. R is forty-nine years young. He […]
My clinic nurse and I recently received a lovely note from a friend of a patient we had the pleasure of following through his cancer journey. I wanted to share it here for two reasons: 1) to highlight the importance of time, for our cancer patients and for their caregivers, and 2) to show gratitude […]
I was finishing up a new patient clinic when I heard a difficult to hear sentence last week. It had been a long morning of meeting three new cancer patients. The first patient was the only one who still had a chance of cure. She was young, in her mid-fifties. She had recovered from a […]
I had a lovely visit with one of my octogenarian patients a few weeks ago. I’d like to tell you about our conversation. His words reinforced a simple, but deeply meaningful, concept. Mr. L just turned eighty-four. He was diagnosed with a localized mid-esophageal cancer in the fall of 2022. As his cancer was still […]
My patients say the most interesting, and reflective, things to me sometimes. The words “a slow march to death” have been repeating in my brain over the last six weeks. Try as I might, these words don’t seem to want to move out of my mind. Perhaps writing about them will help free them. Ms. […]
I would like to write about EP again this week while he is fresh in my mind. You may remember him from the story I wrote a few months ago entitled, “Addicted To Hope”. EP and I said goodbye this week. Our goodbye has me pondering the different ways we end up walking through life. […]
I would like to share a short story about how an innocent mistake brought much joy to my workplace. A few weeks ago, one of the patients I follow ended up in hospital. This patient was relatively new to me, though not new to the cancer care system. He had been followed by a colleague […]
One of my favorite patients over the years was named Elsie. She died in September from complications related to her metastatic colon cancer. She was lovely. So were her children. As the month of May closes, to honour Mother’s Day a few weeks ago, and to recognize what would have been a milestone birthday for […]
Join me, through the stories I tell, and see the hope, grit, grace, and love that can be found in a cancer journey.
