I’ll admit it. I’m a complete hypochondriac when he comes to getting cancer. But if you were me, you would be too. You see, part of my job at the cancer hospital where I work requires me to read lots of medical records. These records usually describe what caused the patient to seek medical help after they started noticing certain symptoms. It’s crazy because a lot of these symptoms are normal everyday occurrences for most people. For example, this one guy started getting the hiccups very frequently. He even threw up from them a couple of times. Turns out, he had esophageal cancer! Another lady started getting a lot of headaches because she actually had multiple brain tumors! So, whenever I get one of these ordinary symptoms, I panic, and my first thought is, Oh my God! What if it’s cancer? I start to freak out until the symptom goes away and I realize I’m just fine. And then I have to call all of the people I told that I might have cancer and let them know that I don’t. Because that’s what Cancer Hypochondriacs do, even though it usually leads to me feeling really dumb, which is also an everyday occurrence.
Stephanie Walters 