Life can change in the blink of an eye, and so it does with a diagnosis of acute leukaemia. Clinical notes so often written on a blood test request form suddenly become words that relate directly to me. As a medical scientist, I perceive too well their clinical, prognostic and therapeutic implications; true meanings hidden in the simplicity of investigative notes. Query AML, Induction chemotherapy, consolidation, severe neutropenia, rigours, anaemia, engraftment, Day 100, acute GVHD. The notes presage and perhaps fortunately for the patient, mask the intense pain, exhaustion, the sense of balancing on a knife edge, confronting unknown risks, and dealing with the fall of the dice which is chance. Neither can the notes reveal the real hope, professionalism of caring staff, the selfless generosity of blood and tissue donors, the surprise of personal fortitude and endurance, and the strength of family and friends. Experiencing the diagnostic and therapeutic process from the inside out with understanding and insight as a result of my scientific background is an ongoing and unique experience. Life has never been the same since my diagnosis. Would I change it? No. I have gained far more than I have lost. Medical science gives us all hope.