Welcome to the comments and discussion of Chapter 6: Diagnosis of the book, I’m Just A Person by Tig Notaro! Catch up on Chapter 1: Over My Mother’s Dead Body, Chapter 2: Are You My Mother, Chapter 3: The Downfall, Chapter 4: Saying Good-Bye, and Chapter 5: Letting Go.
Let’s get started! Chapter 6!
There was so much of this chapter that spoke directly to my own story. While I didn’t face a life-threatening illness before cancer, my mother also died just months before my own diagnosis. It felt like there was just too much happening all at once…like I was cursed.
“Needing my mother to comfort me about her death was an insatiable, unresolvable problem. And now, having cancer without a mother brought on a similar, and similarly insurmountable, problem: I needed to go home, but I would forever be unable to.”
Yes, times a million. You can feel such raw emotion in Tig’s writing. So much hurt and longing for reality to be different, to be better, to be less complicated.
“I have cancer. I have cancer. I have cancer. I have cancer. I have cancer. I have cancer.”
Yes, yes, yes.
The descriptions of Tig and her friend trying to piece together the doctors’ notes and recommendations with internet searches and research felt all too familiar as well. My husband pulled out our undergrad probability and statistics notes to work out a physician’s fertility procedure claims. There is a wealth of knowledge to learn and it almost always feels like you don’t understand enough, quite yet, to make the very best decision.
Anyone else out there really understanding Tig’s emotions at this point in her story?
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Thanks for joining us for Chapter 6: Diagnosis of I’m Just A Person! Join in next Monday for Chapter 7: Largo.
If you’re just joining us, here are some logistics:
We will talk about a chapter each Monday until the book is done. Then, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss. Join in, in the comments every week! At the end, we’ll have a book club discussion via video chat! Also, there will probably be spoilers. Read along with us!
How are you enjoying our young adult cancer book club?
