First post

Gentle readers:

This note, written on Thanksgiving Day 2008, is my first blog post. Within the next two days, I will post my book, I Signed as the Doctor: Memoir of a Cancer Doctor Surviving Cancer.

After serving as a physician at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York for 17 years, I was diagnosed with cancer and treated at my hospital. This memoir, organized as a collection of emails (an epistolary format with a modern twist), captures the surreal experience of being both a cancer doctor and a cancer patient, a scenario that resembles being in a play in which you know all the lines but you’re reading the wrong part. My goals in telling my story are to inspire the general reader, give insight to the 12 million people worldwide diagnosed with cancer each year, and inform doctors how to better care for individuals with cancer, all from the unique perspective of a cancer doctor surviving cancer.

By posting the book on the Internet, I hope to make it available to all who may benefit. If my story helps you, please let me know. I'd love to hear stories from other doctors who have been on both sides of the doctor/patient experience. Also, I encourage all (whether you're a physician or not) to share your stories of facing cancer or other serious illness, especially if you have suggestions that may help those of us newly confronting these challenges. Let's be each other's best resource.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Best wishes

Laura