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    On Both Sides of the Diagnosis
    On Both Sides of the Diagnosis
    On Both Sides of the Diagnosis
    Ebook128 pages1 hour

    On Both Sides of the Diagnosis

    By Andrew Dettore and Terry O. Scott

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    About this ebook

    On Both Sides of the Diagnosis is a survival guide for children and adults who are just beginning a fight with cancer, written by a childhood cancer survivor who became a doctor. That's me, Dr. Andrew J. Dettore

    Death crept closely to me when at fifteen years old I was diagnosed with leukemia, a form of cancer. Within a few days, a priest came to my room at Children's Hospital of Michigan, in Detroit, to administer my last rites: prayers said to the dying and the dead. However, like the Dylan Thomas poem, I would "not go gentle into that good night."

    I am now a physician, and in this book I will tell you how I rose from my deathbed to capture my dreams, and how my experiences can help you overcome any hardships that you face in life.

    A portion of the proceeds from this book will go to cancer charities.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAndrew Dettore
    Release dateJan 15, 2012
    ISBN9781466019355
    On Both Sides of the Diagnosis
    Author

    Andrew Dettore

    Dr. Andrew J. Dettore is the author of On Both Sides of the Diagnosis, along with coauthor Terry O. Scott. On Both Sides of the Diagnosis is a book for the fight with cancer. Andy is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, a pediatrician, and a trained oncologist and hematologist.

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      Book preview

      On Both Sides of the Diagnosis - Andrew Dettore

      On Both Sides of the Diagnosis:

      A Survival Guide for Children and Adults Who

      Are Just Beginning a Fight with Cancer,

      Written by a Childhood Cancer Survivor

      Who Became a Doctor

      by Andrew J. Dettore, D.O.

      and Terry O. Scott

      On Both Sides of the Diagnosis

      by Andrew J. Dettore, D.O.

      and Terry O. Scott

      Copyright 2019 by Andrew J. Dettore, D.O.; and Terry O. Scott

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition License Notes:

      This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

      A portion of the proceeds from this book will go to cancer charities.

      This book is also available in print.

      Original copyright application 2010, Library of Congress

      Cover photo: Andy during chemotherapy, juxtaposed with Andy as a physician.

      For Stephanie, Hudson, Lilly, Gloria, Larry, Amanda and Megan

      **

      In memory of Mike Quinn

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1: Cancer Answers and Cancer Survival: Introduction and Overview

      Chapter 2: D-Day: Diagnosis Day

      Chapter 2.5: Purgatory

      Chapter 3: Induction Junction, What’s Your Function?

      Chapter 4: Consolidation: What Do You Want to Consolidate, and Why Don’t You Doctors Just Speak English?

      Chapter 5: Broviacs or Port-A-Caths: Are Those Like Port-A-Potties? Again, English Please!

      Chapter 6: Survival: Music Therapy, Having Fun, Playing Games, and Killing the Special Treatment

      Chapter 7: Parents and Siblings Need Love Too

      Chapter 8: Being a Friend: To Go Bald or Not to Go Bald

      Chapter 9: Side Effects: Oh, the Side Effects!

      Chapter 10: Six to Nine Months: More Keys to Survival

      Chapter 11: Don’t Forget School (or Your Job)

      Chapter 12: Rediscovering the Sun, and the World, and Discovering the Meaning of Life

      Chapter 13: Maintenance Chemotherapy: You ain’t so bad (Rocky III)

      Chapter 14: Solid Tumors

      Chapter 15: Bone Marrow Transplants (BMTs)

      Chapter 16: Life after Cancer, and the Long-Term Effects

      Chapter 17: The Bright Future: College and Beyond

      Chapter 18: Family, Friends, Faith, Hope and Love

      Chapter 19: The Great Gift: There Is No Dream Too Lofty and No Goal That Cannot Be Reached

      Afterword by Terry O. Scott

      Connect with This Book Online

      Works Cited

      ***

      Chapter 1: Cancer Answers and Cancer Survival:

      Introduction and Overview

      I: Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night

      (Thomas 128)

      Death crept closely to me when at fifteen years old I was diagnosed with leukemia, a form of cancer. Within a few days, a priest came to my room at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, in Detroit, to administer my last rites: prayers said to the dying and the dead. However, I would not go gentle into that good night (Thomas 128). I am now a physician, and in this book I will tell you how I rose from my deathbed to capture my dreams, and how my experiences can help you overcome any hardships that you face in life.

      Before getting diagnosed, I had been sick for several weeks, and no one knew exactly what was wrong with me. By the time that I finally went to the hospital, the cancer was in a very advanced state. Doctors had to give me high doses of chemotherapy—a treatment with chemicals so toxic that they cause a person to lose their appetite, much of their body weight, most of their energy, and all of their hair. Because chemotherapy (or chemo for short) is harmful to patients’ entire bodies, in addition to their cancer cells, it worsened my overall health. I was once a carefree and ambitious high school athlete, yet after one week of treatment I was still very ill and at risk of dying. The priest returned to administer my last rites for a second time, while my loving mother, Gloria, cried at my bedside. As the days went on, I fought hard against the cancer. I held on tightly and dearly to life. I refused to die.

      II: What is Cancer?

      Cancer is a life-threatening illness, which affects millions of us. Simply put, cancer is a disease that occurs when some of a person’s cells genetically change and begin to multiply out of proportion to normal cells. These cancer cells steal the resources that are meant for the rest of the body. Because cancer cells are the person’s own cells, cancer is initially hard to detect, typically difficult for a person’s body to fight, and very complicated to treat medically. Also, as stated earlier, cancer cells are part of a person’s body, so to kill cancer cells is oftentimes to greatly harm the person too.

      Whether directly or indirectly, cancer touches the lives of about one in every four people in the world! If you live to be at least seventy-five years old, the chances are one in three that you will have had cancer yourself. However, how you react to it helps reveal and shape the person you are. Cancer also helps reveal and shape the ones who love you. Most importantly, it can help prioritize and create the memories you cherish and the life you lead.

      III: More Things That Cancer and Its Treatment Can Do to You

      I fought tooth and nail for my life throughout my first month of chemo, and eventually the cancer in my body largely subsided (this is called remission). Then, my doctors allowed me to return to my home in Livonia, a middle-class suburb of Detroit, Michigan. This made me extremely happy, yet I soon became gravely upset when I had to relearn how to use my muscles just to walk around the house. Although chemo killed much of the cancer inside of me, the chemo had been breaking down the rest of my body too. In a way, cancer had reduced me back to a baby—a bald baby.

      After being home for a few days, I went to church. Five weeks earlier, before I began feeling sick, I bounced around like a typical vibrant student athlete at Detroit Catholic Central High School. But now, on an emotional day in church, I staggered into the restroom in order to cool my head in the sink. This particular May morning had grown more hot and humid than someone in my condition could bear. I took off the baseball hat that I had been wearing to conceal my head, which was recently made bald by chemotherapy. Under a cool stream of water, I rinsed my head and then patted it dry with paper towel, while I tried to collect myself.

      Witnessing this, a teenage boy who had just come out of one of the restroom stalls looked with disgust at me and said, What kind of person does that to their hair to where they have to hide it with a hat in church?

      I answered, I’m sick.

      Yeah, sick in the head, the kid scoffed as he walked out of the restroom.

      This brought me to tears. Five weeks ago, I had been training during the off-season for my school’s cross country and basketball teams. I was striving to be a straight-A student. A promising life seemed to be before me. Yet, here I stood in my church restroom, a defoliated, skinny, and fragile teen, fighting for my life with every ounce of my energy, while being insulted by my peers.

      That moment spent crying in the restroom of my church ended a period of denial for me. You see, even during that entire month in the hospital, I had not realized just how terribly sick I was. On some level, I knew it, but I wouldn’t let myself believe how sick I was. My brain was doing this on purpose as a self-defense mechanism. However, while crying in the restroom at church, things became clear. The sickness became real in my mind. I was greatly saddened, distraught, and depressed by this realization.

      As a cancer patient, it is normal to use denial to protect yourself, and it is normal for the depressing realities of the situation to catch up with you eventually, so let it be.

      IV: Things That Friends or Family Can Do for You

      Another week later, at my house in Livonia, I invited over my two best friends—Dave and T—along with Dave’s brother Steve. I told them the story of how deeply hurt I had been by the rude kid in the church restroom. In no time flat, Dave, Steve, and T took turns shaving off T’s long, skateboarder-style hair with a set of clippers. I couldn’t believe it!

      Let me deal with the rude comments now, T confidently proclaimed.

      Why? I asked, amazed by T’s brashness.

      It’s hot on the baseball diamond. No better time to be bald than baseball season, T responded.

      V: Things That Cancer Can Do for You

      It takes the darkest events in one’s life to define the greatest depths of their character. How one responds to their friends and family members in crisis, they will remember on their deathbeds; on their deathbeds families and friends will remember each other. I know because it happened to me. I made it through the hardest of times to become a pediatrician—a doctor for children.

      This book reflects many events in my life. It is a story about living, and it contains some of life’s lessons for adults and children alike. I, Dr. Andrew J. Dettore, had leukemia. I survived it, and I want to help patients, their families, their friends, and even their doctors to better understand cancer, other hardships, and how to survive

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