Diagnosis

Cancer related 043009

The radiologist put her hand on my arm. I don’t like to hold back with my patients, she said. What this means is cancer.

It wasn’t that I didn’t already suspect (know?) it in my head, even in my gut, but the sound of the word changed my world. The word “cancer” was as charged as if she had said “she died”, or “the divorce is final”.

The Book of Days turns a page when a diagnosis of cancer is made.