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Oliver Sacks on learning he has terminal cancer
- jgrahamc 12y agoIf you are reading that and discovering Oliver Sacks for the first time, or just haven't read any of his books, may I recommend that you get a copy of Uncle Tungsten? It's wonderful memoir of growing up in London and a history of chemistry.
- inglesp 12y agoMusicophilia is also strange and wonderful, and very much worth reading.
- 3stripe 12y agoThank you, I will be doing this. And learning some more about my home town no doubt.
- vanderZwan 12y agoI love all of his books, but for me Seeing Voices has been a life changer in how it shifted my perspective of the world and of how we should treat each other. Not that I would consider myself a terrible person before reading it, but it made me aware of wrong ideas I had because I never gave them much thought because I did not need to think about them. Basically the hearing equivalent of white or male privilege. Which kind of opened up the thoughts about other privileges I might have been unaware of.
- MartinCron 12y agoMay I recommend that you just read everything. Maybe I'm just a grief-stricken fan, but I'm pretty sure that Oliver Sacks hasn't written a sup-bar or un-interesting sentence in his entire life.
- ddoolin 12y agosub-par*? -- I find that I actually pronounce it like you spelled it somewhat often.
- MartinCron 12y agoYou have to point it out after it is too late to edit... Sigh
- jpdoherty 12y agoAbsolute poetry. I hope I face life with that kind of love, dignity, and open embrace when I'm in my final years.
- kristofferR 12y agoWhy not now?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- dnetesn 12y agoHume would have been impressed.
- JacobAldridge 12y agoThe first book I ever bought the woman who became my beautiful wife was Sacks's The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. She had mentioned enjoying some Psychology studies, so it seemed relevant. His writing then, as now, leaps off the page and dances with your mind. Sadly, we will soon lose any possible new writing, and joyously he leaves a lifetime of work as a legacy.
- MarkMc 12y agoThe Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat is such a wonderful book - perhaps my favourite. The characters and ailments of each case are fascinating, but it's Sacks' empathy and understanding that really makes the books special. Every few pages I would stop reading, stare into space and contemplate the unusual perspective that he has elucidated. Not many books have such an effect. If you haven't read The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, please add it to the top of your list.
- lemming 12y agoThis is also one of my favourite books of all time, and many of Dr Sacks' books are other top contenders. Quite apart from his wonderful human aspect, and the fascination and empathy he has with his patients, it's very thought provoking. I had never really considered how totally wonderful our perception and consciousness mechanisms are until I was forced to by reading his accounts of patients who for one reason or another are missing them. For example, the title story is a man whose vision is perfect, but totally lacks the ability to synthesise the forms he's perceiving into objects, so he has no idea what he's looking at. Truly fascinating. What amazing abilities we all take for granted.
- avz 12y ago"I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure." Beautiful.
- geoffsanders 12y agoThis is one of the most honest and genuine observations I've ever heard; an observation that one can likely only fully appreciate in the face of mortality. Beautiful, indeed.
- 300bps 12y agoI have been increasingly conscious, for the last 10 years or so, of deaths among my contemporaries. I am about half the age of Oliver Sacks. In the past year I've gone to two funerals for people younger than I am. It's a very poignant reminder of your own mortality when people your age or younger pass away.
- agumonkey 12y agoRare time when death feels like an Ode to life.
- Jolijn 12y agoI should write a note for my wife and children in case an accident happens, so I can express to them how happy a life I've had with them, even if I died before realizing my dreams.
- tome 12y agoWhy not just tell them now?
- Jolijn 12y agoI have said as much to my wife, but my children are too young to really understand. Besides, it's meant to be a consolation to them when I'm no longer around.
- ekanes 12y agoIf there's one thing I've learned as a parent (particularly around language but also around empathy) it's the kids understand much earlier than we often give them credit. Telling your 1 or 2-year old you love them is absolutely received because they know more language than they can project, but also because the tone conveys love more than the words. Tell them often! :)
- Jolijn 12y agoRiiiiight, well, if you got from my comments that I don't do that, then I guess I'm bad at explaining myself.
- tomjen3 12y agoBetter yet: record a video. It will be more personal than just a note. Also you mentioned your children being young. You may want to record videos for their various birthdays and other life events in case you are no longer alive. I know I will do this when/if I have any children.
- philh 12y ago
- CartyBoston 12y agoIt's a beautiful essay, and I don't mean to undermine its gravity but one thing he mentioned has me curious. How does one conclude that two tumors are related? Might it be that the cancer that metastasized in his liver is independent of that that was in his eye? He is a neurologist, I am not intending to challenge, just curious and I know there are people here that know much more than I do.
- copperx 12y agoI'm guessing they did a biopsy of the tumor in the liver and found it was ocular melanoma. Elementary, my dear Watson.
- CartyBoston 12y agoThat was my first post here, I want to watch my step. Is an "ocular melanoma" any tumor discovered in the eye? Or is it mutated eye tissue that was subsequently discovered in his liver? Which would indeed be pretty definitive. I do appreciate your help.
- k__ 12y agoIt's an tumor that "once" was a pigment cell.
- karmajunkie 12y agoMelanoma in the eye is most commonly of a type called uveal melanoma. Ocular melanoma would be any melanoma in the eye, including the more common skin types (e.g. nodular, or superficial spreading, which is the most common subtype) which metastasized to the eye (very rare). Uveal melanoma confounds most of the effective melanoma treatments to date, even the most current and exciting treatments that have come on the market in the last few years. The reason (rather, one reason) is that it shares few of the same genetic targets that the more common subtypes have. A primary tumor which metastasizes elsewhere in the body has characteristics of the primary tumor, including genetic markers, which is what allows a pathologist to determine a likely origin.
- 12y ago
- robotnoises 12y agoI wish I could do anything as well as Oliver Sacks writes.
- alandarev 12y agoThen master yourself, you are not 81 with a terminal cancer here.
- sireat 12y agoUnless you are under the age of 25(and preferably under 15) you have little hope of mastering anything. Once you get over 40 you realize that your best hope is to work with what you have (that and your children). You are not going to learn a new skill sufficiently well to be called master in it. Sorry, if you start medical school at 40 you are not going to be performing brain surgery at 50. If you did no writing from 18 until 40 you are not going to suddenly master writing. Counterexamples welcome. Whenever, I find someone who did something exceptional at a later life, I find someone who actually laid a solid foundation in his/her teen years. "I want more life father"
- joshuapants 12y agoI would love to know how you arrived at this conclusion.
- sixQuarks 12y agoThere are always exceptions to the rule. But for a majority of ordinary people, I agree with you. However, thinking this way can be a huge limiting factor.
- chernevik 12y agoFor myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else. -- Winston Churchill
- phtrivier 12y agoI suppose the definition of "mastering" can accomodate any opinion on the topic. Would this conatain any (most likerly rare) couter-example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_bloomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_bloomer ?
- edw519 12y agoI feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight...I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends. I shall no longer look at “NewsHour” every night. I shall no longer pay any attention to politics or arguments about global warming. Great advice for everyone. We are all dying. The magnitude of our vectors may be different, but the direction is always the same.
- dr_ 12y agoAnyone who is even remotely interested in end of life issues, and anyone who is a physician, should really read Atul Gawandes Being Mortal. Many people are unable to live their lives out the way Dr Sacks hopes to, simply because the medical establishment as is doesn't really allow for it. The best takeaway from this essay is that, in the end, you have to focus entirely on things that matter to you most. But you should also be clear on this with your treating providers - so at the end you are spending time with your loved ones, and not going in and out of the hospital.
- experiment0 12y agoHe delivered the BBC Reith Lectures this year too, which were fantastic. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00729d9
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- brg 12y agoIf you enjoyed those lectures, the EconTalk conversation with Becky Linddicoat on palliative care may also be of interest to you. http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/11/becky_liddicoat.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/11/becky_liddicoat.htm...
- tbrake 12y agoThe advice reminds me of the article "How Doctors Die" ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-die.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-die... ). Having not read the book and the viewpoint it presents I do feel like there's also a bit of responsibility - I hesitate to use "blame" or "fault" - on the patient or patient's family for keeping them alive on machines and treatment that cost way too much. Perhaps the establishment is an enabler in that sense but what would they be if they didn't respect the wishes of the dying?
- fossuser 12y ago
- sswaner 12y agoMany years ago, as a young undergrad, I ambushed Oliver Sacks right after he finished addressing a Music Therapy conference. I asked if I could run an idea by him, he said we could talk while he walked to his car. I explained my hypothesis of a potential cause of neurodegenerative diseases. He listened patiently then said "I have similar thoughts, the challenge is proving it". Then, just before stepping into his car, he said "If you are right, and can prove it, you would win the Nobel Prize. Good luck, young man." I doubt he remembers this conversation, but for me it was an amazing experience I will never forget. The lab I worked in wasn't equipped to study the idea, and I became the lab computer guy instead of a neuroscientist. But I am still grateful to the confidence given me in that short conversation.
- protothomas 12y agoWhat was your hypothesis out of interest?
- sswaner 12y agoThat something, likely some kind of protein (not aluminum as was suspected back then), was blocking retrograde motion within axons, leading to reduced ability to support synaptic transmissions and causing ALS. I learned later that I was heading in the right direction, but that others were well ahead of me in the research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurofibrillary_tangle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurofibrillary_tangle
- vetler 12y agoMy father died from complications from ALS last year, 70 years old - he was only diagnosed with it a few months before he died, although his first symptoms appeared a little over a year before that. Having been spared from most terminal illnesses, it was surprising that such an unknown and fast working illness exsited. I knew people could get sick and die, but I always imagined it would be something more ... well known, like cancer. Or perhaps a stroke or heart attack. That we still have illnesses that we know so little about is surprising. What makes ALS so special?
- tpopp 12y agoPlease, if anyone else reading this has the same cancer, do not listen to any medical professional saying to lay back and die. Sacks was, lucky if it can be called that, to have the less aggressive strain of Ocular Melanoma that metastasized. The most aggressive usually results in death in 18 months, but there is progress being made to extend this to 4 years. Look up Dr Sato of Thomas Jefferson. He's the expert on this cancer. Your loved ones will be extremely grateful for an extra 2 years with you, and the best treatments barely degrade the quality of your life at all.
- MagicWishMonkey 12y agoEeking out an extra (potential) 2 years in exchange for the mental and physical torture of chemotherapy is not worthwhile for some people, particularly the elderly.
- thieving_magpie 12y agoEveryone must make their own choice.
- tpopp 12y agoChemotherapy does not work on this type of cancer. The best treatments, with the exception of one semi-annual treatment, give 2 days of fatigue and that's about it. The physical torture is not there, only the mental torture of having a terminal illness. Additionally, this cancer does not cause your health to degrade until the very end. You're right about it depending on the person though. There is just a lot of misconception about this particular cancer, which is why I commented about it.
- mdtancsa 12y agoNot all chemo is the same. Some are FAR worse than others, and some are relatively tolerable.
- RogerL 12y agoMy mother was on chemo for years. Her only 'suffering' was tiredness, and she survived far beyond what was predicted for her. For others it is horrible and/or ineffective. You won't know if you don't try.
- jusben1369 12y agoWhat, if any, relevance to readers here place on the fact that he is 81 vs 61 or 41, to his overall generally positive state of mind?
- bshimmin 12y ago81 is a reasonably good innings, slightly above the average for the US, and just about the average for the UK (Sacks is British-American, I believe) - one wouldn't describe dying at that age as a particularly early or premature death. I think it's hard to separate that intrinsic fact from his stoicism on the subject, impressive though it is. I'm sure it's not easy at any age to face your impending demise, but knowing you've led a pretty long and very successful life perhaps makes it an easier pill to swallow. And, to be a little cynical, we're reading this in a column in The Gray Lady - perhaps he's terrified on the inside but putting on a brave face for the public, either to keep up appearances or to be a source of inspiration for others. Seems like this would be a good day to re-watch "Awakenings"...
- rvn1045 12y agowhoever has said they've led a happy life, surely hasn't faced death yet.
- goffley3 12y agoOne of the great sages of the world soon to leave us. I love his writing and the different perspectives that his work has offered me. He'll be missed and as bad as this sounds I'm excited to see what writings he comes up with as he takes the final steps of his journey.
- ahussain 12y agoThis article reminds me of an incredibly beautiful one by Christopher Hitchens called "Unspoken Truths" http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/06/christopher-hitchens-unspoken-truths-201106 http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/06/christopher-hitchens-...
- gmisra 12y agoThis seems like a perfect opportunity to share some more reflections on death from those who are often closest to it, doctors themselves. It appears that many (most?) doctors choose to spend their final days differently than most of their patients. http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die/ideas/nexus/ http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2011/11/30/how-doctors-die... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-die.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/your-money/how-doctors-die...
- ProAm 12y ago> This is not indifference but detachment — I still care deeply about the Middle East, about global warming, about growing inequality, but these are no longer my business; they belong to the future. This quote sticks out to me, I feel everyone acts, by and large, like this towards these issues (or most issues) regardless of age or health. Probably my pessimistic view of the world, very interesting to read from him.
- guruparan18 12y agoAnything that is related to death and uncertainty in general kindles lot of thought in one's mind. I for one, have always considered it to be a great interest to read about them. Here is a prose, written roughly 2000 years ago, dealing with death. It compares death to a sinking ship in a calm deserted ocean (contrast to violent shipwreck). Death engulfs the old ship very slowly. Translation: The bonds of friendship are broken, friends, relatives and wive have become cold in love, or few, the cords of love are loosened. Consider the matter well. What profit is there in the attached state? Oh, it is come, the wail of distress, as when a ship founders! See: http://www.tamilvu.org/library/l2800/html/l2800ind.htm http://www.tamilvu.org/library/l2800/html/l2800ind.htm for original text.
- brosky117 12y agoThis was an eloquent and beautiful article that helped me to consider my own mortality. Thanks for sharing.
- WhitneyLand 12y agoMost of his reflections on how to live with terminal illness seem like a fulfilling way to embrace life at any time. Funny how our focus has to be retrained so often on the things we already know are the most important.