March is colorectal cancer awareness month. Considering this, for the next four weeks, I thought I would highlight a few of the colorectal cancer patients I have had over the years who have impacted me in one way or another. Carole is one of these patients. I met Carole in February of 2017 when she […]
A patient of mine died unexpectedly this week. He had colorectal cancer. I only met this man three times. Still, his death has impacted me. Our first meeting was for his initial consultation to discuss chemotherapy to cure his cancer. I recommended six cycles of chemotherapy. His chemotherapy was to start shortly after the radiation […]
I live in Canada. In my province, the third Monday of February each year is a statutory holiday called Family Day. As I am publishing this story on Family Day 2022, I thought it apropos to share a story about a family who impacted me while I tried to help them on their short cancer […]
I would like to share a story about a woman named Diana. I have known Diana since March of 2017. Diana has incurable pancreas cancer. The opportunity to have lengthy relationships with my pancreas cancer patients occurs infrequently. The sad fact of the matter with pancreas cancer is that it is often a quick killer. […]
I met a most wonderful eighty-nine-year-old woman last week. She came to see me for her newly diagnosed stage four rectal cancer. She is dying from her cancer. Her cancer is an unusual rectal cancer. The most common type of rectal cancer is called adenocarcinoma. This woman’s cancer was different and of neuroendocrine origin; neuroendocrine cancers […]
For two months in the spring of 2021, I was part of the care team involved in the treatment of a sixty-seven year old woman with a newly diagnosed squamous carcinoma of the anal canal. This woman’s cancer had not spread beyond her pelvis at the time of diagnosis. This was a good thing. My […]
In early 2014 I met an unassuming man of small stature who had just had a rather large surgery to remove his cancer – an ampulla of Vater tumour. These are uncommon cancers and though there are many nuances, they are commonly treated like pancreas cancers. He was one of the “lucky ones” who could […]
“What’s yours will never pass you,” he whispered in a thick Scottish accent. My back was turned to him as I started walking out of his hospital room. His quiet words stopped me mid-step as if a force field had captured me in his deep thoughts. He was isolated in a private room for the […]
“Hello, my name is Jennifer Spratlin. I’m a chemotherapy doctor.” These are the two sentences I introduce myself with when I walk into a room to do my initial consultation with a new cancer patient. It seems like an appropriate introduction here too. I choose not to introduce myself as Dr. Spratlin in most instances […]
Join me, through the stories I tell, and see the hope, grit, grace, and love that can be found in a cancer journey.
