What You Don't Know Can Kill You
A Physician's Radical Guide to Conquering the Obstacles to Excellent Medical Care
Chapter One
Breaking All the Rules
On May 8, 2002, I found myself in the Patient Services Computer Room of the MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA) in Houston. Chuck, my beloved husband of 30 years, was ensconced several floors below in the Infusion Center, receiving his third and final course of chemotherapy for a rare, very advanced chest tumor. During the first course, he was too sick for even family to visit. For the second one, his 90-year-old dad, Ben, flew in from Detroit. this time, our daughter Sara had taken off time from Public Defenders in D.C. and was keeping Chuck entertained chatting about her fiancé, fellow law student Joaquin Sanchez.
Chuck and I had been commuting between San Diego and Houston for five months now. This first phase of his treatment—three rounds of high-potency chemotherapy—had gone very well, and had shrunk the tumor considerably. After a rest back in San Diego following this last round of chemo, we'd return in Jun ... read full excerpt from What You Don't Know Can Kill You ebook
