I am a medical oncologist specializing in breast cancer. I often try to conceal what I do for a living when I meet people for the first time as it always leads down a particular road. “Is that so depressing? I don’t know how to deal with that all day, every day.” But in truth, it is not depressing. My work is very rewarding. I feel that the most valuable lessons I have learned in life, I have learned in the practice of oncology.
1. Labels hurt. In a world of ever-growing diversity, labels extend to the oncology clinic. While perhaps less publicly discussed than other forms of bias and discrimination, the labels can be just as damning. I have patients with incurable metastatic cancer who proudly wear the label “survivor” — they are, after all, surviving. But I have an equal proportion who abhor the societal survivor movement because the word doesn’t describe their experience. They will die of cancer — and pretending that represents survival is hurtful to them. Even patients with curable disease struggle with labels. They don’t identify with phrases like survivor, or cancer warrior, or brave, or heroic. They just want to be seen for who they are. They want to be more than their disease. We all do. And the world of medical labels extends to life — black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight, saint, sinner. The power of any individual is greater than a single word — let’s not use such restrictive language to describe or define.
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