When you first come to MD Anderson, you may be so overwhelmed that you have a real sense of urgency when you get here. Maybe you feel like there’s an alien invader in your body, so you want to jump straight into chemo.

I understand that desire. I was diagnosed with stomach cancer in July 2005, and I ended up having both my stomach and my esophagus surgically removed.

But my advice is to slow down. It took about a month to...