FROM BOTH SIDES

A leukemia researcher recounts the diagnosis and treatment of her breast cancer.

Weisberg was a researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, when she first discovered an abnormality in one of her breasts. Her husband, a pediatrician, reassured her that it felt like a fibroid cyst, but after undergoing investigative procedures, she was told that she had invasive ductal carcinoma. It was also discovered that at least one of her lymph nodes was suspiciously enlarged. The author clearly documents her entire course of care, including taking part in a clinical trial involving a six-month preop combination of hormone therapy and palbociclib, a cancer growth blocker, in an attempt to shrink the tumor. Surgery was then scheduled to remove the tumor, followed by secondary surgery to remove axillary lymph nodes. With the news that her auxiliary lymph nodes tested negative for cancer, Weisberg was given a six-week course of radiation therapy, then a mammogram that showed “nothing suspicious.” The memoir opens with an engaging discussion about why people might develop cancer. Weisberg draws on her medical knowledge here but doesn’t overwhelm the reader with jargon: “Maybe for certain people, over time, the aging cells, which are constantly dividing and making mistakes that typically get corrected, fail to correct themselves because of a faulty DNA repair system.” Readers will appreciate the specifics she shares about her medication: “I know theoretically my tumor—which is 95% progesterone and estrogen receptor-positive—should respond to the tamoxifen and Lupron.” She tackles a tough subject with wry humor: “Is it something other than a tumor? Am I about to give birth any second to an alien baby like in Village of the Damned?” At 38 pages, the memoir doesn’t go into much depth. We do get some glimpses of the author’s psychological response to illness; she concludes that her experience with cancer may have given her greater appreciation for life. But this brief work doesn’t offer much more than other similar titles.

An informed, short account of breast cancer treatment.