tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post6619804583182445160..comments2024-03-27T21:39:27.170-07:00Comments on The Adventures of Notorious Ph.D., Girl Scholar: Eight thingsNotorious Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08700875559325201086noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post-65617894497519583092009-06-11T16:20:03.462-07:002009-06-11T16:20:03.462-07:00Encourage encourage encourage. I smoked for 37 yea...Encourage encourage encourage. I smoked for 37 years, quit by tapering off (and eating many, many Fancy Fruits LifeSavers). Nine and a half years later--October 2003--I had some moderate chest pain and yup, Stage 3 non-small-cell lung cancer. <br /><br />Believe me, you do not want to have to turn to the person who loves you, mumbling "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" after the doc looks at your x-rays and gives you the news. That was the absolute, no-contest worst thing that ever happened to me--the remorse, not the diagnosis itself. This happens, one way or another, to everyone who doesn't live a life of steely isolation like Ted Kaczynski. But the self-reproach was a lot keener for knowing I had caused this--that I was (as I thought) going to leave Peggy a widow at 58. I didn't, thanks to a combination of brilliant medical care and Peggy's rock-solid emotional support and unimaginably good luck; that's not a Trifecta I'd recommend counting on. The Gentleman in the Bright Nightie (as I think W.C. Fields put it) is coming for us all, but we needn't put out the welcome mat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648409483330236099.post-15294239975628951652007-08-23T22:11:00.000-07:002007-08-23T22:11:00.000-07:00Eight things about your eight things:1. I knew tha...Eight things about your eight things:<BR/><BR/>1. I knew that.<BR/><BR/>2. I agree.<BR/><BR/>3. I had forgotten.<BR/><BR/>4. I think you're amazing!<BR/><BR/>5. I did not know that.<BR/><BR/>6. I'm proud of you! Keep it up. As you know, no man is worth lung cancer.<BR/><BR/>7. I think it's because of growing up in Home City. I'm with you on this one.<BR/><BR/>8. I miss living alone sometimes. *sigh*hilaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07622859963822036375noreply@blogger.com