Acknowledgements

Introductory Note

Part I: Diagnosis

1 First Thoughts and Second Opinions

2 Healthcare for All Pt. 1

3 Patients and Patience

4 Father to Son and Back

5 Give It Up for Lent!

Part II: Treatment

6 Day 7: The Countdown Begins

7 Day 6: Carpe Diem

8 Day 5: Vegetarianism Is Not an Option

9 Day 4: Sweatin’ and Shakin’

10 Day 3: Making Decisions When You Can’t Think

11 Day 2: Nausea and Fatigue

12 Day 1: Courage

13 Day 0: Communion

14 Day +1: Confinement

15 Day +2: Waiting and Anxiety

16 Day +3: Relaxed

17 Day +4: Toiling and Spinning

18 Day +5: Healthcare for All Pt. 2

19 Day +6: Patience and Hope?

20 Day +7: A Letter Arrives

21 Day +8: Anaemia

22 Day +9: Why I Write

23 Day +10: Why I Dyed My Hair Blue

24 Day +11: Shorn

25 Day +12: Tired, Itchy, and Hiccupping

26 Day +13: Waiting

27 Day +14: Signs of Progress

28 Day +15: Turn Me Lose, Set Me Free

29 Day +16: Fresh Air

30 Day +17: Postponement

Part III: Recovery

31 Home Sweet Home

32 Home Update

33 The Social Determinants of My Survival

34 Letting the Days Go By

35 A Thread of Good Fortune

36 Magical Thinking

37 Hope Kept Me Eating

38 Sunshine, Suffering, Rebirth, and Freedom

39 Food Aversions

40 Inching Towards Normalcy

41 Human Fatigue and Canine Anxiety

42 Healthcare for All Pt. 3

43 Still Wearing My Helmet

44 Same as It Ever Was

45 Who Is That Masked Man?

46 Inspiration in the Oncology/Haematology Waiting Room

47 With a Little Help from My Friends

48 Springtime on My Face

49 Feeling the Love … and the Likes

50 Disease, Bodily Alienation, and Transhumanism

51 Dem Fingernails

52 Traversing the Rim of the Valley of the Shadow of Death

53 The Examined Illness

Epilogue: Living with Mortality