- Susan Sontag in 1972, two years before being diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer.
Whatever I thought I meant when I said, “Give it to me straight, doc,” I wasn’t prepared when the radiologist answered, “I thought we would be talking about saving your breast, but now we’re looking at whether we can save your life.”
Her pronouncement followed a brief mammogram and ultrasound. They were brief because I only have one breast left to examine. A new tumor had been found in it. The radiologist debated aloud whether my cancer was stage IV—sometimes called “advanced” cancer. There is no cure for it. She said they would need a full-body PET scan to make a diagnosis. The ultrasound had already shown that cancer had migrated into my axillary (underarm) lymph nodes, and in a recent upper-body MRI scan, suspicious spots, probably cancer, were visible on the top of my liver…