When I was a graduate student at Caltech in the mid-1970's, I noticed a problem in my left eye. I was there struggling for Ph. D., hoping that the gods-that-be would see fit at some point to deem me worthy of receiving it. My left eye had always been weaker than my right eye, so it was not at all very noticeable. But in the past when I closed my right eye I could always see clearly with my left eye. Now, however when I closed my right eye I could not distinguish objects nearly as clearly as before. I had the disturbing feeling that vision was going away in that eye.
So, I went to see an ophthamologist. In those days my parents were still living, and they encouraged me to do so after I described the problem in a letter. Now there was very little information available on doctors or lawyers in those days -- or at least I did not know of any that existed. (Of course, one often finds out information exists that they did not know of.) So I picked one out of the phone book -- naturally, I called the first one listed in the yellow pages. Doctor B (I do not remember his name, just the first letter) was an older man, and he ran standard opthamologic tests, then informed me the problem with my left eye was just that I had a congenital nondevelopment of it. I knew that it had not developed when I was growing up, and I took this result as a relief to know that nothing else was going on.
I went back a little over a year later because I felt the vision in that left eye had gotten worse. Doctor B said he wanted to send me to have some tests at the USC medical center, tests that he did not know existed the year before. (I soon began to suspect that there were several newer developments in medicine that he was not aware of.) I went to have these tests, and soon got the reports that there was substantial palor in the retinas, particularly in the left eye. But again, no diagnosis of the problem.
Discussing this with Doctor B, he said there was no problem in the eye except this congenital deformity, but that I may have some problem in the behind the eye. That uncertainty was rather different than the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanics that I had encountered in my studies. To make this problem in my eyes less uncertain would require a significant increase in money expended -- an item an exhausted struggling student does not have! Furthermore Doctor B gave me no good leads as how to improve it. However, by that time I was beginning to think that the USC medical center would definitely be a better place to pursue this question.
A few months later the problem came to a head. I was working 14 15 hours a day puting my research notes together and writing my Ph. D. thesis. Visual problems had become more noticeable, and I phoned Doctor B and demanded to be referred to the top neurologist at the USC medical center! That paid off, because he set me up with a Dr. Allen, the head of neuro-opthamology at the USC Medical Center. NOW I felt that I was getting somewhere on the problem!
So, 5 days before I was scheduled to take my final oral exam over my thesis in front of 5 faculty members at Caltech, I went down to the USC medical center. A number of visual field tests were given to me, and as Dr. Allen was talking to me afterward, he told me it looked serious. Then he exclaimed, "This is unmistakable! You have a chromophobe adenoma of the pituitary gland." He then described some serious tests I would have to take to confirm this, but the overwhelming evidence was that it was a large growing tumor that was destroying my optic nerve. Since I had informed him of my intention of leaving after receiving my Ph. D. to take advantage a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship that had been awarded to me, he suggested I change plans to stick around, because I was going to need brain surgery. Well, maybe an college buddy of mine was right after all when he suggested I needed it!
Shortly thereafter, I was looking forward to the prospects of the final oral exam to be followed by brain surgery. Knowing that I would be going before 5 of Caltech's finest, I was reserving judgement as to which was going to be worse!. I then learned another piece of ecstatic news: the new provider of the student health insurance at Caltech had made the student health insurance policy dates different than Caltech's term or quarter dates.
I was registered for the summer quarter and scheduled to take my final oral exam on September 12. The summer quarter ended about September 22, and I would not be registered for the fall quarter since I would no longer a student (there is no such thing as a "post-Ph.D." student!). I had been diagnosed with the pituitary tumor on September 7. But someone had set the new health insurance policy (a policy just started that year) to run on a calendar quarter, so that the insurance for students registered for the summer only ran to September 1!
Up to then as a student I had maintained myself in a debt-free state -- in my opinion by being very frugal, although in my friends' opinion by being a "tight-wad". So I appealed the problem of the inconsistent insurance coverage to the higher administration at CalTech. However, I expected that instead of entering the post-Ph. D. world debt-free I would actually enter it with a massive debt-burden. That would teach me for surviving by being such a stingy person!
I delayed the confirmatory tests for the pituitary tumor until after I had taken my final oral exam, which (thank God!) I passed without difficulty. Thus the diagnosis had given me a significant "gift" to go with my degree, one that I will never forget! So, after passing the oral I celebrated with friends, colleagues, and my advisor over a few pitchers of beer. As the old saying goes, "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow you may die." I did not expect to die the next day, but I was not so sure about the next month. So drink away I did!
NEXT NEWSLETTER: Conclusion of
TWO MORE TALES FROM THE PIT with 2. Deep in the Head from Texas
This article and the sequel in the next issue will be part of a
forthcoming book Crockett is writing
which should become available early next year. Short selections of it
will also appear in Christine Clifford's new book Cancer
Has Its Privileges . Crockett is available for public speaking on
"Enabling the Future".
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