Anyone Working on a Doctorate with a cancer diagnosis?

[Medievalmaniac]

The title says it all. I don't have a diagnosis [yet], but I do have diagnostic testing in my immediate future. If anyone out there has an experience to share of being in grad school while battling the Big C that ends with a positive outcome or looks to end with a positive outcome, I'd love to hear about it.

[newms]

I really hope it's not what we all fear and that this is just a false alarm. I really hope so. Ever heard of Randy Pausch? Not a graduate student, but a famous CS prof that was diagnosed with cancer - his 'Last Lecture' is pretty inspiring.

[ogopo]

My best friend was diagnosed with thyroid cancer about halfway through her first semester (masters, not PhD). This was especially hard because her mother had passed away from cancer when my friend was still a teenager. As well, she was in a far-off city so I couldn't even be with her.

She had surgery and it had spread way further than they expected but they were actually able to remove all of the cancer. It was a sort of miracle surgery. The chance that she would not be able to speak again or have permanent numbness was very high but she recovered really well. Later she had to take irradiated iodine to remove any of the last bits of cancer. I can't believe she had to go through all of this but she made it to the other end and now she is fine. It's crazy that it was all so fast too.

[socialcomm]

I don't have any experience, but I wanted to say I wish you the best! Many healthy thoughts to you. I'd assume you'd be able to take medical leave and people would be sympathetic to what you might be going through.

[beanbagchairs]

First of all, I hope your diagnosis is negative.

I know someone who was diagnosed with cancer whilst finishing her PhD. It pushed her graduation back one year, but, she finished her PhD quite successfully. She was able to snatch a prestigious, merit-based, fellowship during the treatment. It did not hold her back, it actually pushed her to strive. What I can remember about her is that she did not lament over cancer. She fought it while working ***hard*** on her PhD. I think working on PhD helped to take her mind of the cancer.

On top of that, she has a kid and a husband to look after to. ...stong woman.

I think she's cancer free now

Edited April 2, 2011 by beanbagchairs

[bluetourmaline]

A Ph.D student in my lab got a tongue cancer diagnosis while I was in undergrad (she had never smoked in her life, but it seemed to be an HPV-related cancer). She had to have a tracheotomy and reconstructive surgery of the entire back of her tongue using flesh from her arm. She basically had to relearn to talk for a while.

She beat it, and after a year she defended her thesis, got a lovely postdoc in Wales, and seems to be doing fabulously, according to the grapevine and casual Facebook friendship. She still has faint scars from the surgeries, I think, but she is looking great. It helped that we had one of the most awesome advisors imaginable, who was extremely supportive throughout the ordeal; also, her mother flew in from overseas (she is an international) to help.

Best wishes to you.

[sputnik]

So you do have cancer? Or you think you might have cancer?

Here's the deal with this nasty little buggar: What kind you have and how far it's progressed are going to really set the stage for the kind of treatment that is planned and how much that will affect someone's studies. The thing with cancer is, "fighting" it is really mostly just waiting. Waiting to have a test, waiting for results, waiting for treatment, waiting for more tests, etc.

The point is, with all that waiting going on, the hardest part is to not let your imagination get the best of you. Because it can eat you alive.

So, try to wait until you know what, exactly, you're dealing with before you let it own you. I know exactly what you're going through, and that's the best advice I can give.

[awvish]

I don't have any advice or anything new to contribute, just wanted to say hang in there and I'm pulling for you.

[hubris]

Hopefully your worries turn out to be nothing more than that.

There was (is? I don't really keep up with the forum anymore) a member on the coffee geek website that was an older student in a PhD program at UChic with cancer.

Seemed to be generally in good spirits, but this all mediated via the web.