{"id":1812,"date":"2016-12-13T14:53:47","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T19:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/?p=1812"},"modified":"2016-12-13T15:32:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T20:32:49","slug":"sometimes-normal-best-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/sometimes-normal-best-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Sometimes Normal is the Best Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"jbb-photo\"<\/a>This is a personal story about how Temple Law has been a community for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

In February of 2016 I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. \u00a0For a variety of medical reasons, I needed to start chemotherapy immediately. \u00a0The drugs in question have almost all the horrendous side effects of which you\u2019ve probably heard\u2014hair loss, nausea, problems eating, low energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

For about a month before I received the diagnosis, I had been teaching Property to a first year section, as I have done here at Temple for many, many years. \u00a0The class seemed to me to be going well, and\u2014though several of my colleagues offered to take over teaching it\u2014I did not want to give it up and become a full-time patient. \u00a0On the other hand, there was no way the students would, over time, fail to notice that something was going on with me. \u00a0The drugs were going to have a visible effect.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone I\u2019ve told so far has asked if there is something they can do. \u00a0And my answer has been, \u2018nothing, really.\u2019 \u00a0But you can actually do something.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And so, after a lot of soul-searching and consultation, I told my students during class one day what was happening to me, what was likely to happen when the drugs kicked in, and what my chances were likely to be going forward. \u00a0As you might guess, the room was totally silent. \u00a0And then I said, \u201cEveryone I\u2019ve told so far has asked if there is something they can do. \u00a0And my answer has been, \u2018nothing, really.\u2019 \u00a0But you can actually do something. \u00a0Just let me teach this class, as I would ordinarily have done, and just take this class, as you would ordinarily do, and just let this one aspect of my life be something like normal.\u201d \u00a0And then I called on a student to recite the next case.<\/span><\/p>\n

I cannot exactly describe the next few months. \u00a0I did in fact lose my hair, my appetite, and my energy. \u00a0But, with the cooperation of my doctors, I keyed my chemotherapy treatments to my teaching schedule, and I missed only one class. \u00a0And my students did exactly what I asked them to do. \u00a0They let me be their teacher, they acted like \u201cnormal\u201d law students, and they gave me a place and space to be my healthiest self. \u00a0My colleagues also helped enormously, taking over all my committee work and allowing me to focus solely on my teaching and my health.<\/span><\/p>\n

This summer, I learned that, against all odds, the chemo and some subsequent surgery had completely eliminated the cancer (at least for now). \u00a0I emailed my Property section with the news. \u00a0Since they\u2019d seen me go through the treatments, I figured they were entitled to know the outcome. \u00a0I cannot tell you how many replies I received, nor how kind they were. \u00a0Nor could I tell you what they meant to me then and mean to me still.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took him a moment to recognize me, but when he did, his first words were, \u201cAm I allowed to hug you?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On my first day back to school this fall, with just a fuzz of hair on my head and two clothing sizes smaller, I ran into one of the students from my Property class. \u00a0It took him a moment to recognize me, but when he did, his first words were, \u201cAm I allowed to hug you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the kind of place Temple is, where people will listen to what you ask for and, if they can, give you what you need. \u00a0\u00a0This place, to me, is what community looks like.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a personal story about how Temple Law has been a community for me. In February of 2016 I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. \u00a0For a variety of medical reasons, I needed to start chemotherapy immediately. \u00a0The drugs in question have almost all the horrendous side effects of which you\u2019ve probably heard\u2014hair loss, nausea, problems eating, low energy. For about a month before I received the diagnosis, I had been teaching Property to a first year section, as I have done here at Temple for many, many years. \u00a0The class seemed to me to be going well, and\u2014though several of my colleagues offered to take over teaching it\u2014I did not want to give it up and become a full-time patient. \u00a0On the other hand, there was no way the students would, over time, fail to notice that something was going on with me. \u00a0The drugs were going to have a visible effect. \u201cEveryone I\u2019ve told so far has asked if there is something they can do. \u00a0And my …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[249,92,510],"audience":[58,56,54],"coauthors":[428,893],"class_list":["post-1812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-commentary","tag-community","tag-relating-to-students","tag-support","audience-alumni","audience-prospective-students","audience-students"],"yoast_head":"\r\nSometimes Normal is the Best Medicine - Voices at Temple<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/voices\/sometimes-normal-best-medicine\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sometimes Normal is the Best Medicine - Voices at Temple\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a personal story about how Temple Law has been a community for me. In February of 2016 I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. \u00a0For a variety of medical reasons, I needed to start chemotherapy immediately. \u00a0The drugs in question have almost all the horrendous side effects of which you\u2019ve probably heard\u2014hair loss, nausea, problems eating, low energy. 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