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Up until a few years ago, I was sure that my life was not nearly exciting enough for other people to want to read about it. But when a CT scan came back showing a lot of scary junk eating its way through my abdomen, it suddenly felt like my life had been skeet-shot in mid flight, and that the pieces were in need of identification. I started a blog.
27 comments:
Dear Joshua,
I have just read the article about your life medical struggles. You give me hope...no I do not have cancer but have suffered from bouts of depression my entire life which seems pale compared to what you have been through. I pray for such a positive outlook in the face of my own deamons of a much different sort. I thank you for sharing your story and most of all your idominable spirit. You have live a thousand meaningful lives in warp speed! God bless you and those around you! William
Dear Josh,
As the mother of one of your classmates at USC, I fell like you could be my son or daughter...I am very touched by your positive attitude, you've taught me something about accepting life as it comes and make the most of it. I hope the recovery will be fast and you'll be back to school to become the best doctor ever!
Much love, from another mom.
Dear Joshua:
I have never responded to an LA Times article, but there is always a first time. Your life story is an inspiration to me, and I will check in on your blog periodically to see how you are doing. Thank you for sharing a huge piece of your meaningful life - I can't wait to see where you go from here. You will remain in my prayers. Theresa O'Hare, Laguna Beach, CA
Dear Josh,
WOW....you are a gift to us all! I read your article in the L.A. Times this morning. As a psychotherapist who has worked in hospice and specializes in Bereavement and Loss, I am excited that you are a role model for aspiring doctors. Your ability to articulate your feelings, and willingness to share them have touched me deeply. How wonderful that you have met a special woman, that your test results are good and you are on the mend! My prayers are with you and your family. Please continue making entries!
Sitting here at my desk at USC UH and having read the Times article and I cannot wait for you to come through in the fall! Your story is amazing---after all of this, med school should be a breeze! What a gift to share your struggle like this. I will keep checking in on your blog keep you in my thoughts!
Lynn
Hi Joshua,
I subscribe to the LA Times, but barely find the time to read it...except this morning. I always complain about my life here in LA (I am from Italy and I came here to get my Business degree) and then I read your story. We complain so much for no reason. My dad has been sick since I was a kid (Multiple Sclerosis;) however, he never had a positive outlook on his illness like you do. You are truly an amazing man. You teach all of us that we should stop worrying about some extra pounds or other silly things. Life is more than that. Thank you for reminding me. From now on I will keep reading your blog and I will be so excited to read about your new life and successes! Grazie Joshua :-)
Josh,
My young brother-in-law is currently in a struggle with the big C. He did have his rectum removed and now is facing difficult times.
I have sent him a link to your blog and hope that you will continue to share your story with the world. I, for one, will be "visiting" you regularly.
I admire you for your strength, your sense of humor, your wonderful ways of expressing yourself.
Give your mom a huge hug from another "Mom."
I read this article today in the newspaper and browsed your blog. The challenges you've faced are truly inspirational.
Josh,
You da man! Your life story and your outlook in general are highly inspirational. I can't imagine how I would handle such adversity but I'd hope that I'd have the courage, strength and outlook that you have. This course you're taking is unlike any class course you'll ever take, but it's taken you to the brink & taught you so much more than many of us will ever learn. Whatever path you take, your life lessons will keep you grounded & will take you far. My prayers and those of many others are with you.
Dear Josh,
I had to read this article today a couple of times to make sure I wasn't reading about my own life battling cancer. So my purpose is to let you know that I battled and beat cancer 3 times - Testicular (pure seminoma) 2 times - I consulted Dr. Skinner and the Einhorn Institute back in 86' & 89' respectively. My first diagnosis of Testicular Cancer was at age 24 and after I just ran the New York Marathon. One month from being 5 years in remission, I was diagnosed with cancer #3 - "Peritoneal Mesothelioma" as I'm sure you might understand what I've gone through. From 1994 - 2002 I fought for my life, endured 3 surgeries, (5 total) and the last 2 being very much "life threatening". I was on "hospice care" in 1998 and literally threw them out of my house, and my last surgery in 2001, I forced my surgeon(s) - 2 to operate when the odds of my surviving said surgery was less than 5% at best! After removal of half of my stomach, half of my small intestines, a mass surrounding my pancreas, removal of my gall bladder, spleen and appendix, I not only survived with a remaining percentage in my bowel of about 2%, but since late 2003, my blood counts are normal and after almost 10 years of living by TPN and many differenct Hickman's and Port's, I recently removed my Hickman Catheter for the final time about a month ago! I live on my own food intake and play golf at least twice a week. To let you know how I'm feeling? I birdied 5 holes today and won $38.00 from my partners!! That my friend is what we call "good news"!! So I say to you, hang in there and know, there are many miracles out there and you my friend will certainly be one! I've traveled the country speaking as a miracle cancer survivor and have raised now over $800K for pediatric cancer research. Both Lance Armstrong and Scott Hamilton know me as I'm sure one day they will know you. Never forget and always remember - "There's always HOPE"!!
I'm not far from you if you ever feel the desire to talk. Good luck and God Bless!!
Sincerely,
Spencer Shiffman
3-Time Cancer Survivor
www.cancerwinner.com
sas22@roadrunner.com
hi josh,
as a heme/onc, bmt RN, i want to commend you on your openness and willingness to share your story to the world. i read your article in the LA times and was amazed of your bravery. i sure hope that you continue to write entries and keep people updated. what a gift you will be to your future patients having experienced being one yourself. may God bless you and your family. your parents sound amazing. have fun getting to know sarah and stay cancer free.
Joshua--
I am grateful that you chose to share your experience with cancer as a young person and as a medical student because you taught me a lot. You are a winner and a hero in every way. Be well and heal others in every way.
Kay in LA
Dear Joshua,
Thank you for writing about your experience and sharing it with us. I can only imagine what it must have been like for you to go through that -- especially in medical school! Some of my own worries and doubts during med school seem trivial in comparison.
Thank you also for describing your interactions with your physicians. It shows the importance of empathy, which can sometimes be diminished by the rigors of training. Your straightforward and no-nonsense prose reminds us that there is always a real person in that hospital gown.
Lastly, as a bone marrow donor, I am even more glad that I could do that to help someone.
Best wishes always,
dr_dredd
dr_dredd01@yahoo.com
Dear Joshy,
I am so happy to hear your news. Tessa fowarded the article to everyone and I just read it. You are such a freakin' superstar, I love ya. Glad to hear you are gettin some lovin'. She must be a special lady. Now get back to LA so we can celebrate with you! I promise we will spoil you silly. Much love, becky
Dear Josh,
When I was 16, back in the 1950's, my cousin Barry, a medical student in NY, developed back pain. You know what they said. By the time they diagnosed stomach cancer, it was too late. All the great docs at Sloan-Kettering didn't have then what they have now.
It's clear to me that you will beat this, that in a sense, you already have, because of the lessons you've learned and taught others and with this article, continue to teach all of us whose lives you touched so powerfully with your courage.
Josh, you've got lots of people, like me, out there rooting for you, sending you all our positive energy and prayers. Thank you for sharing both your strength and vulnerability.
Dear Joshua,
Thank you for the article! I'm in my third year of remission from 3rd stage head and neck cancer. My dear cousin died of liver cancer when my young mother was facing incurable late stage kidney cancer. Two months after she died horribly, I was diagnosed with 3rd stage head and neck cancer. Before I started the urgent mega dosage of treatment, I had to let go my unsupportive boyfriend to relieve him from further obligation. And I had to halt everything else in my life, such as getting my professional license. I was in utter abyss since where no one could fathom my pain. God's mercy kept me alive to this day.
I don't know you but I greatly appreciate your sharing publicly, via LA Times. At last, someone is speaking out on the ordeal of chemotherapy and doctors' bedside manner from the patient's perspective. I was tired of hearing all the one-sided optimistic stories and those that couldn't make it. You just spilled out the in-between. The waiting time, the suffering time, the unknown time, the alone hours are the hardest to go through and often not so glorious that others might not have the stomach to hear.
I hope that you'll become a great doctor with the compassionate heart you now gained and a cool mind to cure others. I'd love to have a doctor like you!!
Stopped by in hopes of a JoshuaFix and got a heartful. Glad you posted the LA Times piece. It seems right that a larger audience is there for you and I'm hoping you'll find the free attention to post from time to time.
Wow- the LA Times article was intense to read. I have read your entire journey thru cancer, and wish you and your family well now that you are on the other side of this journey. It will takes months, perhaps even longer to thaw out emotionally from being side-tracked in life by cancer at such a young age.
My 17 year old son is over 2 years in remission of stage 3 Germ Cell Cancer- cantalope size, sitting on his heart, pressing in his right lung. He is now just a normal teenager- driving his mom nuts, starting his senior year in high school, and looking at colleges. He hasn't quit figured out who he is outside of his cancer world, but he will. Your path into adulthood had already begun, and now you get to continue on that path- older and wiser from what you have experienced.
Getting back to our old life and thinking of anything but cancer will take a long time, but you will get there.
I wish you health and happiness on this next chapter in your life.
All the very best,
The mother of a teenage cancer survivor
Dude. You should be selling something with the vast number of hits you are going to be getting from this! Saturday. We're on. No tv, no rock and or roll. Just fun. Team Stein style.
Josh,
Your inspiring story gives many hope. Thank you for sharing your story.
I am an acupuncturist focusing my practice on cancer support. Check out my blog on the subject.
http://www/healthwithcancer.blogspot.com
There is a lot of relief acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine may be able to offer you.
Alex
I came across your article in the LA Times. Your outlook on life is what made the article so amazing to me. Not many people can remain so hopeful, so positive in the light of such a scary situation and at the same time continue to learn from it! As an insulin-dependent diabetic, I found your story particularly uplifting. Thank you for sharing it with all of us!
I was also wondering if you enjoyed Washington, DC. I work in Dupont Circle and hope the city was kind to you during your stay.
josh,
i'm soooo happy to hear how well you're doing. hope you're still in the pa when i arrive (is that how the locals call it?), it would be fantastic to see you.
-rachel f
Dear Joshua:
I lost my mom earlier this year due to complications of congestive heart failure and renal failure. For two years, I refused to leave her side much to the chagrin of the night nurses who tried to push me out at the close of visiting ours. I knew in my gut that my mom needed me. Thank you for recognizing the need for patients to have advocates. We see and understand what some in the medical profession overlike. Twice during my mother's care, I was able to divert something from happening to her. Once, if I had not been with her, she would have been left in the x-ray department for close to an hour because the shift had changed and no one remembered her until I spoke up.
You have incredible strength and tenacity and my prayers are with you. My prayer is that you will win your fight. You're already one hell'va doctor because you are teaching us all that we must remain positive whatever the situation and to always hang in there. Thank you.
Dear Joshua:
Rarely do I get past the front page of the LA Times on a Saturday; but your column one article got me and I eventually found myself reading your blog, too. I appreciate greatly you sharing your experiences becasue it has given me a better understanding about what my family is about to go through. Lots of luck to you. As a side note, I like your mom's writing style on your blog.
Hi! I have been thinking about the article and you for 3 days and I have to say, "Thanks". You are one of the few that have the ability to kick some sense into my head and the brains of so many others. That parking space we missed out on. The Cosmo without enough "Cosmo". A bad hair day? I will never put my head down to sleep and complain about my bad day again. You are a Man, a good friend, a good son and now a man in love. You are strong and have a smile on your face. I hope to be able to read more about you and what your future brings. Thank you for your honesty.
As a guy who recently had a Grade III glioma successfully carved out of his melon and is getting ready to start radiation and chemo within the next two weeks, I was quite moved by your story.
And it goes without saying that you have a great skull. I only hope mine looks as good when my thick, lustrous locks begin to shed.
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