The Obdurate Opponent

I spoke with a good friend of mine from this island this weekend, who we will call D.C. An acquaintance of mine from the island, who is D.C.'s close friend., was recently diagnosed with stage three B-cell lymphoma. This acquaintance is a semester behind me in medical school and was getting ready to take her boards when she noticed an enlarged lymph node in her groin region. She went to the doctor and they worked her up, thinking it would be an infection or something relatively benign as she had felt fine; but, it was cancer that had spread all over her body. I suppose it could be worse, she could have stage four rather than stage three B-cell lymphoma, but this is really bad. She did her first round of chemotherapy and luckily coped well with the therapy, but it is too early to know if she is responding to therapy. I hope that she continues to do well and I hope that she successfully beats this cancer.

One of my colleague during my OB/GYN rotation just restarted medical school. He had been diagnosed with Philadelphia positive T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia after taking his first set of boards (that is a horrible diagnosis). He was told he needed a bone marrow transplant and that even with the transplant he was most likely going to die; however, he beat the odds and survived. It has been several years since he was first diagnosed. He is finally healthy enough to be back in medical school and doing great.

Both my colleague and acquaintance were in their late 20s, had just finished their second year of medical school and were given a diagnosis of cancer. I cannot imagine what their experiences are like. It makes me feel so lucky that when I had my surgery in January (when I too was in my late 20s and had finished my second year of medical school), there was nothing seriously wrong. I am so fortunate and I hope that my acquaintance will be fortunate and survive her cancer. I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that she will be okay and I hope that I am right. I don't know her well enough to call, but I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers.

As strange as it might sound, hearing about my acquaintance and colleague made me remember why I love oncology so much. Cancer is a relentless opponent, but we (the medical profession) can fight it and we can win. I am proud of the pediatric oncology research that I help with. My input may be have been small, but I have already helped fight cancer. At this point and time, I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up in oncology or in obstetrics because I love them both. If I choose oncology, I will get to spend my life fighting with and for those in the most dire need--those with the obdurate opponent known as cancer.