Carol Westbrook MD, PhD is a Medical Oncologist with over 20 years of faculty experience and research at the University of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Boston University. She is a licensed medical oncologist, formerly at Geisinger Health Systems in Wilkes-Barre, PA. She has served on numerous federal advisory panels for cancer and genomics, and has authored over 100 scholarly articles, and three books , including Ask an Oncologist: Honest Answers to Difficult Questions about Cancer; To Your Health! The Beer Doctor on Good Beer, Good Times, and the Finer Things in Life; and Miss Victory, 1942. Now retired from clinical practice, she consults on medical-legal affairs, and is an author of the blog, Ask-an-Oncologist.com. Her email: carolwestbrook [at] me.com; twitter @Carolwestbrook1.
by Carol A Westbrook “Describe your family” was the assignment in my high school sociology class. A straightforward exercise, it was meant to show us how families are the basis on which all the other social institutions are modeled. It was 1966. I lived in a tidy little bungalow with Mom and Dad, my sister…
by Carol A Westbrook The new research technician walked into my lab at the University of Chicago, and I introduced her to my research group. “I enjoyed the walk from home to the lab,” she added. “Everyone in Hyde Park is so friendly! Why just today I stopped to talk to a gardener. He proceeded…
by Carol A Westbrook The intermittent taps on the roof roused me from a deep sleep, and then I remembered the acorns. The acorns had begun dropping. It was the first week of September, the days were still warm, and the leaves were still green. The leaves wouldn’t turn colors and start falling for several…
by Carol A Westbrook We live in an artificially-colored world, filled with added color in our homes, our clothing, our toys, our hair and even our food! We take this plethora of colors for granted. By comparison, the natural world is bland and almost monotone, except for small patches of brightly colored flowers or birds.…
by Carol A Westbrook Summer is finally here, and nothing says “summer” more than biting into a sweet, ripe freshly-picked tomato, still warm from the sun, eaten with a pinch of salt. The variety of tomatoes is incredible; from sweet 1-pound beefsteaks, delicious eaten raw, to plum tomatoes for canning and sauces, to colorful cheery…
by Carol A Westbrook I pulled my mask up, making sure to cover my nose and mouth as we walked into the supermarket. My husband looked at me quizzically. “Why are you putting on your mask?” I pulled off my mask and gave him a sheepish grin. I forgot that the mask mandate had been…
by Carol A Westbrook I gave my husband an Ember mug for Christmas. The Ember mug is artfully crafted, with its embossed monogram and satiny, comfortable finish. The magic of this mug is not its beauty, but the fact that it holds coffee or tea at a constant, pre-set temperature for over 2 hours. It’s…
by Carol A Westbrook One of my earliest memories was of Christmas Eve in 1954. I was about 3 or 4 years old, playing under a table at my grandmother’s house. My sister and a cousin were with me, playing with a small wooden crate filled with straw. The crate represents the manger in the…
by Carol A Westbrook Men have always wanted to fly to the moon and stars. We wanted to find out what was up there on the moon and planets? Was it heaven? Were there angels? Or were these worlds inhabited by strange creatures who built canals? We looked up, we used telescopes. We watched the…
by Carol A Westbrook Chocolate. The very word makes your mouth water; it conjures up images of childhood, of ice cream sundaes, of Valentine’s Day, of love. A small piece in your mouth makes you happy and improves your outlook—and makes you want more. chocolate is a stimulant, a mood elevator. And so many people…
by Carol A Westbrook When I finished my residency in 1980, I chose Medical Oncology as my specialty. I would treat patients with cancer. I am often asked why I chose oncology. Many people fear cancer, and do not even like talking about it. How can you deal with all the pain and death, I…
by Carol A Westbrook In the summer of 1961, my dad gave me a little transistor radio. My older sister, Lynn, showed me how to tune it to WLS and WCFL, the stations that played music that all the teens listened to. They had the best Chicago DJ’s: Dick Biondi and Larry Lujack, who wise-cracked…
by Carol A Westbrook There was a time when getting an email was a rare event, a special event. Remember the 1998 film, “You’ve got mail,” in which Meg Ryan meets Tom Hanks in an online chatroom? Not recognizing that they are business rivals, they eventually fall in love, in what is perhaps the first…
by Carol A Westbrook It is 42,000 years ago, somewhere in central Europe. A human hunter treks through the forest, dressed in furs. He is carrying a large pack. Alongside him is his mate, a short, blond Neanderthal woman, and their son, about 8 years old, with features of both. They reach their destination, a…
by Carol A Westbrook As Thanksgiving approaches, we think about those things in our life for which we are thankful. I’m thankful for our healthcare system, and I’m doubly thankful for the opportunity to contribute to it. I practiced hematology and oncology for over 30 years, diagnosing and treating blood disorders and cancer. During this…
by Carol A Westbrook The smoke of a thousand campfires… That’s what you’d find 600 years ago in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania, now the site of Wilkes-Barre and a couple of dozen smaller cities and towns. At the time Columbus visited America, the First People were comfortably settled in this area, which was…
by Carol A Westbrook I began taking piano lessons when I was 8 years old, along with Lynn, my older and Mark, one of my brothers. Every Wednesday we’d walk together from school to a small storefront on Milwaukee Avenue about a half mile away. The store windows were covered in drapes, with a little…
by Carol A. Westbrook We think about our fathers during the month of June. Father’s Day is a time to remember these beloved men, especially those who have passed. We reflect on how remarkable their live were, and of so many questions we’d ask them if they were still alive. I’ ask my Dad what…
by Carol Westbrook If all the data from the 70 million Fitbits and other wearables in the U.S. were analyzed for clusters of flu-like symptoms, we might have known about the coronavirus epidemic, traced the contacts and perhaps slow its spread, even before widespread testing was available. This is the power of wearable health technology.…
by Carol A Westbrook Have you ever looked up at a dark night sky filled with millions of stars, and felt the wonder and awe of the universe? It’s a rare experience in 2020, since the night sky is so bright due to light pollution, that even the brightest stars appear dim. Fortunately, don’t need…