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Nicole Grogan Fleege: Being perfect was the way that I would ‘get out’ or ‘make it’
Apr 3, 2024, 15:13

Nicole Grogan Fleege: Being perfect was the way that I would ‘get out’ or ‘make it’

Nicole Grogan Fleege, breast oncologist at University of Iowa Health Care, posted on X/Twitter:

I poured my heart and soul into a ASCO24 abstract and didn’t get accepted for presentation. I was devastated. When a friend asked if I could talk to family about it, I said ‘It’s hard to explain growing up ‘poor’ and having this be my problem.’ It’s not a ‘real’ problem.

If you haven’t grown up wondering how you will pay for dinner, you might not get it. If you don’t have anxiety logging into your bank account after a lifetime of not having enough money, it might not make sense. But being perfect was the way that I would ‘get out’ or ‘make it.’
Each time I get rejected -which is part of academic medicine- part of me feels like I’m 10 again and worried about how I will survive one day. I think I’m a better doctor because of it, but the anxiety still feels the same.”