It takes time to wrap your head around the idea of baring your veins to a killer that will slowly slay your living cells one by one, so pretending to be somebody else is a good way to get through the first day of chemotherapy. Thankfully, it didn’t solely take mind control. The Cancer Center provides a funky boutique full of wigs and hats to disguise yourself, so for part of my treatment, I was Mary Tyler Moore. WWMD? Probably, she’d put on a Denise wig and pretend to be me.

“Everyone reacts d...