When the doctor becomes the patient: Urologist writes about his experience with prostate cancer

Professor Christopher Cheng recounts his experience as a professor-turned-patient in his new book, I Thought I Knew. ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN
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SINGAPORE - Sixty-three-year-old Christopher Cheng has devoted his life to preventing and curing cancers, particularly prostate cancer. He has done numerous prostate cancer operations since 1991 and pioneered robots in surgery in Asia, which has helped to speed up recovery.

As a senior consultant urologist, Professor Cheng thought he knew many things. "I thought I knew about prostate cancer, I thought I knew about patients with prostate cancer and I thought I knew about patients with cancers. I even thought I knew my patients as they went through the ups and downs, the elation and the disappointment, and the sufferings."

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