---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A funny thing happened post-diagnosis…"
description: "\"“A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They put him on drugs, things went up and down, but he lived. He lived. It was like a waiting room where they k..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg"
---

#  A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They put him on…

![“A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They put him on drugs, things went up and down, but he lived. He lived. It was like a waiting room where they kept not calling your name.” quote by Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg)

> ““A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They put him on drugs, things went up and down, but he lived. He lived. It was like a waiting room where they kept not calling your name.””

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

After diagnosis, treatment fluctuations feel like waiting in limbo, with life hanging on uncertain calls.

**In simple terms:** Illness feels like a waiting room with uncertain outcomes.

Key Takeaway

Seek support, cherish each moment.

Themes

illness uncertainty hope

Mood

reflective hopeful

Type

literary philosophical

When to use this quote

- hospital stays
- chronic illness
- family support

Key Concepts

existentialism resilience patient experience

Questions to Reflect On

- How do you find meaning during health crises?
- What coping strategies sustain you?

A Different Perspective

Medical uncertainty can erode hope.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[City-on-fire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/city-on-fire/) [Garth-risk-hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/garth-risk-hallberg/) [Sickness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sickness/) [Simile](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simile/)

## Related quotes

> [For me, I think that there's a lot missing from the recovery or the post-diagnosis side of treating patients. Once the diagnosis is made,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susannah-cahalan/for-me-i-think-that-there-s-a-lot-missing-from-the-recovery-or-the/)

[Susannah Cahalan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susannah-cahalan/)

> [You've got to go where the work is. My mom got a job somewhere else so I went and lived with her and then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikki-jean/you-ve-got-to-go-where-the-work-is-my-mom-got-a-job-somewhere-else-so/)

[Nikki Jean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikki-jean/)

> [I wanted to eat of the fruit of all the trees in the garden of the world… And so, indeed, I went out, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/i-wanted-to-eat-of-the-fruit-of-all-the-trees-in-the-garden-of-the/)

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

> [“Daddy just repeated the word, internship . As an alibi, it was a thing of beauty: its overtones of responsibility, of upward aspiration, were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/daddy-just-repeated-the-word-internship-as-an-alibi-it-was-a-thing-of/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Darkness just loosens the mask. Sharpens the mind's eye. Makes the color of a remembered pencil, or a tick of waxy red on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/darkness-just-loosens-the-mask-sharpens-the-mind-s-eye-makes-the/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Now, though, there was a second part, an artifact of his recent illness, as if his melancholy had, in a universe adjacent to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/now-though-there-was-a-second-part-an-artifact-of-his-recent-illness/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“And so she remained, like everything that mattered to me then, secret—to be pursued in the woods by moonlight, when I was supposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/and-so-she-remained-like-everything-that-mattered-to-me-then-secret/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Truly unconditional love was suffocating, in that it took so little notice of who you actually were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/truly-unconditional-love-was-suffocating-in-that-it-took-so-little/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“He lights a cigarette off a candle. These death-tubes, these little crutches or fuses: useful for getting through all sorts of things you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-lights-a-cigarette-off-a-candle-these-death-tubes-these-little/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“But no, what interested him, psychologically speaking, was the sense of continuity itself, the mind's insistence that this was the same Regan he'd known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/but-no-what-interested-him-psychologically-speaking-was-the-sense-of/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Between the whiskers scraggling down his neck and the now-crooked glasses, he could have been the Black Allen Ginsberg.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/between-the-whiskers-scraggling-down-his-neck-and-the-now-crooked/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Because if every moment of a life is present in every other, so is every old self you've ever tried to outrun. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/because-if-every-moment-of-a-life-is-present-in-every-other-so-is/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Detonations crash in from nearby like walls she's a void at the center of.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/detonations-crash-in-from-nearby-like-walls-she-s-a-void-at-the/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Though what could anyone really say these days with one hundred percent certainty?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/though-what-could-anyone-really-say-these-days-with-one-hundred/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

## More by Garth Risk Hallberg

> [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“He’d wanted it to be about losing, about the things we’re born into loving and then lose.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-d-wanted-it-to-be-about-losing-about-the-things-we-re-born-into/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Though what could anyone really say these days with one hundred percent certainty?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/though-what-could-anyone-really-say-these-days-with-one-hundred/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Detonations crash in from nearby like walls she's a void at the center of.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/detonations-crash-in-from-nearby-like-walls-she-s-a-void-at-the/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Because if every moment of a life is present in every other, so is every old self you've ever tried to outrun. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/because-if-every-moment-of-a-life-is-present-in-every-other-so-is/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Between the whiskers scraggling down his neck and the now-crooked glasses, he could have been the Black Allen Ginsberg.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/between-the-whiskers-scraggling-down-his-neck-and-the-now-crooked/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“But no, what interested him, psychologically speaking, was the sense of continuity itself, the mind's insistence that this was the same Regan he'd known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/but-no-what-interested-him-psychologically-speaking-was-the-sense-of/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“He lights a cigarette off a candle. These death-tubes, these little crutches or fuses: useful for getting through all sorts of things you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-lights-a-cigarette-off-a-candle-these-death-tubes-these-little/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Truly unconditional love was suffocating, in that it took so little notice of who you actually were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/truly-unconditional-love-was-suffocating-in-that-it-took-so-little/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“And so she remained, like everything that mattered to me then, secret—to be pursued in the woods by moonlight, when I was supposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/and-so-she-remained-like-everything-that-mattered-to-me-then-secret/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Now, though, there was a second part, an artifact of his recent illness, as if his melancholy had, in a universe adjacent to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/now-though-there-was-a-second-part-an-artifact-of-his-recent-illness/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Darkness just loosens the mask. Sharpens the mind's eye. Makes the color of a remembered pencil, or a tick of waxy red on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/darkness-just-loosens-the-mask-sharpens-the-mind-s-eye-makes-the/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Daddy just repeated the word, internship . As an alibi, it was a thing of beauty: its overtones of responsibility, of upward aspiration, were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/daddy-just-repeated-the-word-internship-as-an-alibi-it-was-a-thing-of/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“For a moment, he thought he sensed, beneath the visible world, some blind infrastructure connecting the two of them, or the three of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/for-a-moment-he-thought-he-sensed-beneath-the-visible-world-some/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“No one, in the end, made it out of this life alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/no-one-in-the-end-made-it-out-of-this-life-alive/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

[Explore all 90 Garth Risk Hallberg quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

## More City-on-fire quotes

> [“Despite which, Charlie seems doomed to stumble around in the dark, clutching pieces of a puzzle he still can't see.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/despite-which-charlie-seems-doomed-to-stumble-around-in-the-dark/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Though what could anyone really say these days with one hundred percent certainty?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/though-what-could-anyone-really-say-these-days-with-one-hundred/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Detonations crash in from nearby like walls she's a void at the center of.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/detonations-crash-in-from-nearby-like-walls-she-s-a-void-at-the/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Because if every moment of a life is present in every other, so is every old self you've ever tried to outrun. And then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/because-if-every-moment-of-a-life-is-present-in-every-other-so-is/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Between the whiskers scraggling down his neck and the now-crooked glasses, he could have been the Black Allen Ginsberg.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/between-the-whiskers-scraggling-down-his-neck-and-the-now-crooked/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“But no, what interested him, psychologically speaking, was the sense of continuity itself, the mind's insistence that this was the same Regan he'd known…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/but-no-what-interested-him-psychologically-speaking-was-the-sense-of/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“He lights a cigarette off a candle. These death-tubes, these little crutches or fuses: useful for getting through all sorts of things you don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-lights-a-cigarette-off-a-candle-these-death-tubes-these-little/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Truly unconditional love was suffocating, in that it took so little notice of who you actually were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/truly-unconditional-love-was-suffocating-in-that-it-took-so-little/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“And so she remained, like everything that mattered to me then, secret—to be pursued in the woods by moonlight, when I was supposed to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/and-so-she-remained-like-everything-that-mattered-to-me-then-secret/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Now, though, there was a second part, an artifact of his recent illness, as if his melancholy had, in a universe adjacent to this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/now-though-there-was-a-second-part-an-artifact-of-his-recent-illness/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Darkness just loosens the mask. Sharpens the mind's eye. Makes the color of a remembered pencil, or a tick of waxy red on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/darkness-just-loosens-the-mask-sharpens-the-mind-s-eye-makes-the/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“Daddy just repeated the word, internship . As an alibi, it was a thing of beauty: its overtones of responsibility, of upward aspiration, were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/daddy-just-repeated-the-word-internship-as-an-alibi-it-was-a-thing-of/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“For a moment, he thought he sensed, beneath the visible world, some blind infrastructure connecting the two of them, or the three of them,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/for-a-moment-he-thought-he-sensed-beneath-the-visible-world-some/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“No one, in the end, made it out of this life alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/no-one-in-the-end-made-it-out-of-this-life-alive/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

> [“He's moving with such purpose that William is scared he might just speed right off the rooftop, like the roadrunner from the cartoons. Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/he-s-moving-with-such-purpose-that-william-is-scared-he-might-just/)

[Garth Risk Hallberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/)

[Browse all 86 City-on-fire quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/city-on-fire/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They put him on drugs, things went up and down, but he lived. He lived. It was like a waiting room where they kept not calling your name.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Garth Risk Hallberg"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-they-put-him-on-drugs-things/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "City-on-fire"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-they-put-him-on-drugs-things/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1f6/garth-risk-hallberg-7516_city-on-fire_a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-th_354741.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They put him on drugs, things went up and down, but he lived. He…” — Garth Risk Hallberg",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Garth Risk Hallberg",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/garth-risk-hallberg/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“A funny thing happened post-diagnosis. They...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-they-put-him-on-drugs-things/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/garth-risk-hallberg/a-funny-thing-happened-post-diagnosis-they-put-him-on-drugs-things/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```