17

At yesterday’s radiating, one of the technicians asked me about my symptoms with the implication that I am doing unusually well. There are at least a couple that show up by week 4 that I haven’t had, though truth be told with the days off I am slightly behind week 4 (if I was right …

18

With any luck, the symptoms I am experiencing will develop and plateau, rather than simply increase on some kind of curve forever. At least, that seems to be how my various medical professionals tell it. From here on out, something new may happen every 3 days or so. Right now, there is some pain with …

21

Tough crowd today in the green room! No eye contact, no smiles, no nods from the other patients or hangers about. It’s like everyone has cancer and is going through a brutal treatment or something. Or maybe it was the awful Tilly hat I have taken to wearing because it actually provides shade for my …

22

Today’s word of the day is “iatrogenesis.” It means medicine-caused illness. I stumbled across it reading a Jody Berland essay on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome this morning. She attributes it to Ivan Illich’s usage in his writings on medicine (for instance, this piece. But I suspect the term has a longer history worth looking up. In …