Structure

The book is structured with four parts, a prologue, and an afterword (which is followed by acknowledgements). The four parts are identified with the four stages of the author’s cancer diagnosis, which are also the four stages of any cancer diagnosis. Stage One identifies a cancer at its very earliest stages; Stage Four identifies a cancer that is at is final stages, having spread to other parts of the body. Stage Four is often perceived as indicating that the cancer is, or is becoming, terminal and untreatable. Stages Two and Three indicate stages at which the cancer is becoming increasingly present, is perhaps spreading, and is responding less and less to treatment. In the author’s case, Stage One of her relationship with cancer, and of the narrative chronicling that relationship, begins with the discovery of a small spot of cancer in one of her breasts...