A Page from My Oncology Fellowship

Lauren was 26 years old when she received the diagnosis of advanced, aggressive lymphoma. She started chemotherapy at my institution when I was a first-year hematology–oncology fellow. She traveled 2 hours to get to the hospital, where she would be admitted for a few days at a time to complete each chemotherapy cycle. Most people took an instant liking to Lauren. Basically cheerful, she remained upbeat despite the difficult chemotherapy, which required intrathecal injections every other week. She had an 8-month-old son, and she was in and out of the hospital in a few days every time. In all those admissions, I never heard her complain about anything. Many days when I was overwhelmed with the fellowship and my 3-year-old, I would think of her and feel lucky.

Things seemed to go well, and Lauren finished her chemotherapy over 6 months with only loss of hair. Not that anyone noticed—the first thing you saw when you looked at her was her huge smile. She was usually ready for discharge the minute her chemotherapy was over. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with her son. After completion of chemotherapy, she had an autologous stem-cell transplantation and seemed to be doing well …