BIDMC Cancer Center (@bidmc-cancercenter.bsky.social)

Congratulations to our second-year fellow, Chanmi Lee, whose perspective piece "Get Rid of It! Can You Get Rid of It?" was published in @ash.hematology.org. The way she draws upon her own lived experiences to provide compassionate patient care is inspiring ❤️ #HeartofHematology ➡️ bit.ly/4t3ryGt

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ash_hematology on Instagram: "#HeartofHematology - "Get Rid of It! Can You Get Rid of It?" - Chanmi Lee, MD, PhD | Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Me…" #HeartofHematology - "Get Rid of It! Can You Get Rid of It?" - Chanmi Lee, MD, PhD | Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical SchoolThe phone rang at 3:00 a.m.“Hi, I just got your results back. Your white blood cell count is incredibly low. I think you should go to the hospital, like, NOW.”What I first dismissed as a prank call became a turning point in my life. My white blood cell count was dangerously low, yet I felt completely fine. Medically, the numbers were alarming; physically, I felt normal. After extensive testing, I was deemed healthy enough to continue without treatment.Years later, in medical school, I developed sepsis from pneumonia. This time, my WBC count rose but still fell within the “normal” range — though it was seven times higher than my personal baseline. The chart read: “Fever, tachycardic, but no leukocytosis.” I tried to explain that my baseline was low, but my concerns were dismissed. Once again, the labs didn’t match how sick I felt. I had now lived both extremes: feeling well with dangerous counts and being critically ill with “normal” ones.Now, as a first-year heme/onc fellow, those experiences shape how I care for patients. Numbers matter, but context matters more.Early in fellowship, I met a patient in her 30s newly diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Tearful and terrified, she begged me to make it go away. I initially thought her reaction was disproportionate — CLL is indolent, often untreated at diagnosis. But I quickly realized the weight of the word “cancer” mattered far more than its pace.Aggressive lymphomas can be terrifying yet curable. Indolent ones may linger for life. One offers a clear enemy; the other, lasting uncertainty.I’m still learning how to navigate these conversations. While I can’t make blood cancer disappear, I can offer compassion — informed by my own experience living between lab values and reality.View all comments https://bit.ly/4t3ryGt