Recommended Reading
Five years ago, I read a wonderful piece in The New Yorker (where else?) by Alice Trillin. Filed under the header of "Personal History," it was called Betting Your Life and dealt with the maddening and frightening reality of having to make important health decisions in the face of uncertainty and conflicting medical opinions.
When I read the piece, I had no idea that just a couple of months later, Zach and I would have to do that very thing. We'd gotten three very different opinions from three very different surgeons about how to attack what appeared to be a very early form of breast cancer (Stage 0—or pre-cancer, according to some). Trying to choose among the recommendations was no easy feat, and we talked ourselves around and around the various pros and cons until the wee hours of the morning before finally coming to a decision we were (pretty) comfortable with. (We later learned that the cancer was not Stage 0, but Stage II, which ultimately validated our decision. More on that in another post.)
I was put in mind of that experience, and of Alice Trillin's article, very recently, when it became clear that we would soon be in that position again. The issue this time is whether I should have a second course of radiation treatment, and we now have two wildly divergent opinions. We are heading to Boston next week, to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, for a third opinion, and after that we will likely have to go through that wrenching decision-making process again.
But that's not why I'm writing this post.
Instead, I'm writing to suggest that you try to get your hands on last week's New Yorker (the one with the Bruce Eric Kaplan cartoon called "Childproof" on the cover) and immediately read Calvin Trillin's piece, also filed under the header of "Personal History," called Alice, Off the Page. It's a wonderful tribute by Trillin to his late wife, who died shortly after 9/11, about eight months after Betting Your Life ran. It's about love and marriage and writing and cancer and the rare connection that can happen between two people, and it resonated with me in the way that the best writing does—it made me want to tell everyone I know to read it right away.
And that's why I'm writing this post.
So get the March 27 issue, skip the cartoons, and turn directly to page 44. And if you can track down Betting Your Life, read that, too.
When I read the piece, I had no idea that just a couple of months later, Zach and I would have to do that very thing. We'd gotten three very different opinions from three very different surgeons about how to attack what appeared to be a very early form of breast cancer (Stage 0—or pre-cancer, according to some). Trying to choose among the recommendations was no easy feat, and we talked ourselves around and around the various pros and cons until the wee hours of the morning before finally coming to a decision we were (pretty) comfortable with. (We later learned that the cancer was not Stage 0, but Stage II, which ultimately validated our decision. More on that in another post.)
I was put in mind of that experience, and of Alice Trillin's article, very recently, when it became clear that we would soon be in that position again. The issue this time is whether I should have a second course of radiation treatment, and we now have two wildly divergent opinions. We are heading to Boston next week, to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, for a third opinion, and after that we will likely have to go through that wrenching decision-making process again.
But that's not why I'm writing this post.
Instead, I'm writing to suggest that you try to get your hands on last week's New Yorker (the one with the Bruce Eric Kaplan cartoon called "Childproof" on the cover) and immediately read Calvin Trillin's piece, also filed under the header of "Personal History," called Alice, Off the Page. It's a wonderful tribute by Trillin to his late wife, who died shortly after 9/11, about eight months after Betting Your Life ran. It's about love and marriage and writing and cancer and the rare connection that can happen between two people, and it resonated with me in the way that the best writing does—it made me want to tell everyone I know to read it right away.
And that's why I'm writing this post.
So get the March 27 issue, skip the cartoons, and turn directly to page 44. And if you can track down Betting Your Life, read that, too.
posted by Jody Rosen Knower at 8:56 PM
1 Comments:
Jody,
I did read Trillin's wonderful story about Alice in last week's New Yorker. Inspiring.
Good luck at Dana Farber.
your group friend,
Mitzi Morris
morris1030@aol.com
Post a Comment
<< Home