Prologue; Part 1: A Suppuration of Blood Summary and Analysis

Prologue

The Emperor of all Maladies begins with the tale of Carla Reed, a 30 year old kindergarten teacher from Ipswich, MA. One morning Carla awoke with a bad headache which she described as numbness. The problem worsened as time went on. Carla's symptoms were unexplainable from a medical point of view. She began to feel so fatigued that she could do little besides sleep. On some days, she had to crawl across the room because she could not walk. There were also pains deep in her bones. The pains and other symptoms waxed and waned. Although Carla had seen a doctor, there was no solid diagnosis. Eventually, it was determined that Carla had leukemia.

The author, Siddhartha Mukherjee, learned about Carla after she had checked into Massachusetts General Hospital. Mukherjee was...