Living in the Lightning: A Cancer Journal

November 27, 1995: Late this afternoon I was diagnosed with cancer. I learned that I had a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma called 'malt,' for mucous-associated lymphoid tissue.' My oncologist, J. Gregory Mears, M.D., said that mine 'was not a bad story,' because my tumors were 'indolent,' slow-growing. Not a bad story? Doesn't just about everyone know that non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma is incurable? I have incurable cancer." So begins Natalie Robin's journal, first serialized in Self magazine, now compiled and expanded in Living in the Lightning. Robins writes frankly, with grace and realism, of her personal journey of learning to live with cancer. Her candid observations, reactions, and emotions throughout her diagnosis and treatment hit home, as she asks questions all of us might when faced with such appalling news:
* How should I tell my mother?
* Will my husband remarry after I die?
* What should I wear to chemotherapy?
* What would happen if I jumped off the table during radiation treatment?
* Can I ever forget I have cancer? Robins's warm and sincerely uplifting portrait of quiet courage will give encouragement to the millions of people with cancer, and the millions more who love them.