Through Her Eyes

An optical illusion mesmerizes us with its ability to look entirely different depending on our perspective. Our patients can challenge our perceptions, too. Many people are familiar with the famous illusion of Rubin's vase; the picture can appear to be two faces in profile or simply a vase. With someone pointing the way, viewers can learn to see both images, but without a guide, viewers may falsely conclude that they are seeing the full picture when they miss another interpretation. Similarly, we believed that our training and experience over the last 10 years with hundreds of patients with cancer had provided us with a sufficiently broad perspective to understand and detect patients' concerns, fears, and traumas. Yet when we met Mary, heard her story, and witnessed her pain, we learned to see cancer care procedures through her eyes, and our own eyes were opened.