Jonathan Waxman's consulting room is a relaxing place - armchairs for the patients, a couch of the kind you might expect to see in a psychiatrists office… and a tropical fish-tank.
Waxman, professor of oncology at Imperial College, sees me glance over at his collection of tropical fish. "The fish won't eat the cancer, you know," he says. This is a reference to a tale in his new book (he has previously published a novel and several books about his specialism), a collection of short stories which neatly combines his work as a doctor with his literary ambitions.
Each story in The Elephant in the Room is a case study of a cancer patient, based on real cases but fictionalised. One concerns a man with testicular cancer who decides he can cure himself through diet, enemas and meditation. Waxman explains: "When you meditate you are taught to imagine tiny fish in your bloodstream. And when these fish find some cancer they nibble away at it."
He does not deny the importance of meditation but puts it in perspective. "It can help because you are able to become calmer through meditation. But it won't cure your cancer."
