Cancer introduces you to a world of numbers.
PSA.
Gleason scores.
Percentages.
Test results.
Risk estimates.
Dates.
Numbers matter. They guide treatment and help doctors understand what may be happening.
But I have learned not to let a number become the entire story.
A lab value cannot measure the quality of a conversation with Sue.
A scan cannot measure hope.
A prognosis cannot tell me what tomorrow morning will feel like.
Medical information deserves our full attention.
But so does the life happening around it.
I want to understand the numbers.
I just do not want to become one.