I think I am done with red-eye flights. Last week, I had to fly out to Tucson on Thursday morning for a meeting of the University of Arizona Cancer Center’s External Advisory Board. The meeting ended at about 4 p.m. on Friday, and there were no evening flights back east from Tucson. I chose to fly home on the 12:50 a.m. red-eye from Phoenix, reasoning that I would be able to have more of the weekend at home. Well, I was wrong.
The trip was uneventful, and I got a bit of sleep on the plane. I made it home, slept for about three hours and then took two more naps. I finally felt like a human by about 4 p.m. on Saturday (about when I would have landed had I taken a Saturday-morning flight). When I was a medical resident, sleep disruption would have been better tolerated. I guess that ship has sailed. Lesson learned…
Prior to that trip, my week was dominated by pancreatic cancer. Last Friday marked the 50th anniversary of my paternal grandmother’s death from that disease. She lived three months following the diagnosis and spent the last two weeks of her life in a coma. One week after her death, I received my first acceptance to a medical school. I was very close with her; how I wish I could have shared that news with her.
Looking back on that time, I believe her illness guided my career path, even though I was largely unconscious to that impact for many years. On the anniversary date, I finished my resubmission of an R01 that focuses on pancreatic cancer; three days later I gave a lecture about that work at Johns Hopkins, and the day after that I gave the same presentation to my CHI program colleagues.
If my work in pancreatic cancer somehow leads to improved understanding and treatment of that dreadful disease, it will honor the memory of my grandmother and the countless others who have suffered and died at its hands. If not, at least I will know I tried as hard as I could. I’d even be willing to take more red-eyes to make it happen.
Stay safe and be well.
Lou
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