This "backstory" is a part of a collection of articles that describes some of the obstacles that Seven Days reporters faced while pursuing Vermont news, events and people in 2024. To breathe life into my reporting on Vermont hospitals, I did what any ambitious journalist would: I scheduled a surgery and had half of my thyroid removed. I'm kidding. Sort of. The reporting of my cover story about Vermont's rising health care costs was interrupted by the removal of a benign growth in my neck and an overnight stay at the University of Vermont Medical Center. My thyroid is indeed 50 percent smaller. But nothing about my time under the knife ended up in the story. Nor was it necessary to convince me of the importance of a functioning health care system. That's a lesson I learned long ago. [content-1] In 2013, I experienced some worrisome changes. My appetite vanished, my weight plummeted and one day I started coughing up blood. An alarming X-ray landed me at Albany Medical Center. Three weeks of poking, prodding and transfusions later, I was diagnosed with cancer. A type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — diffuse mediastinal large B cell — had spawned a tumor in my chest the size of a cantaloupe, a fruit to which I am otherwise partial. For the next five months I lived at the hospital for weeklong chemotherapy treatments, then recovered for two weeks at home. My bones ached, I was constantly nauseous, and over time the tumor shrank, never to return again (much like my hair). I noticed during my treatments how hospitals have a rhythm to them — the shift changes, the daily resident rounds. Painkillers lowered my inhibitions, and I interrogated the dozens of technicians, nurses and custodial staff who cycled through my room — about their jobs, their interests, even their kids. It was a way to pass the time and remind me of the world that existed beyond those sterile walls. I came to appreciate the people who are willing to do this difficult and draining work. I also learned the importance of health insurance. I was 19 at the time and covered through my mother, who works for the New York public school system. We had co-pays, but they were reasonable, and we never had to consider whether we could afford my next treatment. Years later, signing up for health insurance through Seven…