I’m writing to you from the cancer ward at Mass General Brigham Hospital, where my local oncologist works. I’m currently on an intense Dilaudid and Ativan hangover so this won’t be the usual thoughtful post. However, I can tell you that today is the first day I have felt better than the previous day for …
Author Archives: Jonathan Sterne
Cancer+ Crawl 12 October 2024
My news and the absurdity of modern industrial medicine. Or, how I got diagnosed with pneumonia for the third time in less than a month. This is a long one. I realize that being a cancer patient is a weirdly privileged position. Of course, fuck cancer, but the infrastructure and level of care is a …
Maybe cancer crawl: update Oct 5
So the most important news is that Carrie is here. I wake up several times a night to cough up phlegm in a fairly horrific sounding fashion. It was nice to feel a warm hand on my back as I was trying to hork (<–technical term) something up. And of course the apartment is lit …
Update and a Brief Detour into Existentialism
You know how people sometimes post really personal stuff on social media and then say “I might delete this later?” Yeah, this is one of those posts. The update: I am surviving ok at home. I’m in some kind of steady state where I am not in immediate danger, but I also hate this. My …
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Maybe cancer crawl: 28 Sep 2024
Big news. I’m writing this from my dining room table at home. It’s nice. The only beeping I’ll hear today is from appliances if I use them, or perhaps a synthesizer if I get frisky (maybe in a few days). I am definitely exhausted from 5 days in hospital but I can just chill here …
Probably Not Cancer Crawl: 26 Sep 2024
There are so many things I want to tell you about! This is not that post. On August 26th I moved into my Cambridge apartment. Carrie and I drove down a U-haul, and up and down the stairs we went carrying boxes. Sure I got winded but it was normal. I walked around and did …
Ten Things I Learned From Will Straw
On Monday June 15th we had a wonderful retirement symposium for Will Straw. In addition to co-organizing, I was charged with giving an overview of his career. I concluded with a list of 10 things I learned from Will (lest you think this is original, Sheryl Hamilton had a similar idea). There will be a …