Summary

“Cease Not till Death,” pages 173 - 191. The author describes another set of tests as his “last scan before finishing residency, before becoming a father, before my future became real.” That scan showed the growth of a new tumor. After discussing the situation with Lucy, Kalanithi says, he realized that the tumor probably meant leaving neurosurgery again, perhaps permanently. He had a meeting scheduled with Emma on the following Monday, and work schedules already in place for the next day: he followed through on those, including a surgery. The whole while, he says, he felt as though it was a sequence of last times, even the comment from an assistant on the surgery that it was a “happy ending.” He collected his things, leaving his medical textbooks behind (they would be more use there than at home) and exited the hospital, weeping for a...