Chemotherapy gives you a social license to be ill. No one questions it. It’s okay to be exhausted, nauseous, in pain, dizzy, absent-minded, lose your hair, gain or lose weight, lose focus, and any number of other side effects. Why can’t we be equally generous to people all the time? Whether you have a cold or a tumor the size of a grapefruit, the illness is real and we need to allow ourselves and each other the time we need to be sick. Disease doesn’t get better by ignoring it.