Chemotherapy can be a long, tough haul - for me, it went on for six months - and the best doctors and nurses become, if only for that period of time, as essential in your life as friends or spouses.

The old adage is, 'Write what you know.' But if you only do that, your work becomes claustrophobic. I say, 'Write what you want to know.'

They (the Singaporeans) even still conduct training for nurses and doctors. They plan to train nurses until 2007.

Pathological changes have taken place on large areas of both lungs. Two doctors and three nurses are working in shifts around the clock to look after him.

Doctors put a wall up between themselves and their patients; nurses broke it down.

Finally, in my early 30s, I started writing fiction for the first time as an adult. That felt so scary, and I spent a few years feeling miserably 'behind' my high-achieving friends. But I persevered and obviously have no regrets.