I’m not a doctor. But for 17 years, I’ve been my best friend’s translator.

Hey there…

So my BFF/Sister was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2007. She’s my age. And from the very first time she sent me a lab result I couldn’t fully pronounce, I made her a promise… I will figure this out with you. Ed

I’m not a medical professional. I’m a truck driver. But I’m also someone who refuses to let the people I love sit alone in the dark trying to decode language that was never written for them in the first place.

So we figured it out together. First with Google. Then with better tools. Now with AI.

The medical system doesn’t have time to hold your hand through every scan result. That’s not a criticism — it’s just a gap. And gaps are where I live.

Her journey’s been long and hard. Radiation. Surgery. Immunotherapy. A second round of chemo-radiation that held the cancer at bay for years. Another tumor that, thank God, was encased in scar tissue and surgically removed.

Then the news that there was another tumor.

This time the tumor was different. It’s not a clean mass you can cut out. It’s spidering through her soft tissue, wrapped around the artery near her left clavicle. Surgery isn’t an option. So they put her into a study program with close monitoring. It worked on stabilizing the tumor… until it wasn’t.

Then they started her on carboplatin — a targeted therapy she chose because she wasn’t ready for heavy-duty chemo. 

And she sent me the paperwork.

She’s not technical. She’s not on social media where she can ask questions from the world. She’s a hairstylist — 40 years behind the chair, more knowledge in her hands than most people will ever have in a career. But she lost the use of her left hand and part of her arm because the tumor’s sitting on a nerve. And she’s scared. 

And the last thing a scared person needs is a 6-page clinical document written for physicians.

So here’s what we do now.

She screenshots her treatment notes, her bloodwork, her scan results. She sends them to me. I run them through AI and I have them translated into an understandable  form and send them back — not the whole document, just the parts that actually matter to her right now. 

What is this number telling us? Is this result good or bad? What questions should she be asking at her next appointment?

That last one has changed everything.

We’ve been able to ask better questions than the ones fear would have let her come up with alone.

We’ve researched supplements that might support her treatment. Most of them get vetoed by her oncology team — but some have been approved. 

More importantly, we found a way for her to show up to appointments prepared. We’re not just receiving information anymore. We’re participating in her care.

And when something in a report reads a certain way and her brain goes to the worst place — which is what scared brains do — I can run it through AI to find out whether that’s actually something she needs to escalate or whether it’s a normal part of the process. 

Sometimes the answer is: call your doctor. Sometimes the answer is: this is expected, here’s why.

Here’s the thing about AI that most people are missing… it’s not Google. You no longer have to Google your symptoms and wonder how you went in asking about a headache and came out wondering if you should start planning your funeral for next Thursday.

AI doesn’t send you down that rabbit hole with some vague answers that leave you with more questions and fears — not if you use it right. It can actually slow the spiral down instead of feeding it. It can say “here’s what this result typically means” instead of serving you the worst-case scenario at 2am.

I believe that fear lives in the space between what you’re told and what you understand. AI has helped us close that gap.

She still has her oncology team. She still follows their protocol. AI didn’t replace any of that — it just made sure she could walk into every appointment less terrified and more prepared.

She’s right-handed. The nerve issue has taken away the use of her left hand. And since I’m left-handed, 

I told her I can be her huckleberry… although her customers may never come back if I start helping her do their hair!!

This is what AI for real life looks like. Not productivity hacks. Not automation. A best friend who can now do more.

If you’re navigating a health situation for yourself or someone you love and you don’t know where to start, drop a comment or send me a message. This is exactly the kind of thing I help people with.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by! I appreciate it… Later