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Summary: This is a great book!
Review: "As I Live and Breathe" are the memoirs and musings of Weisman, a resident at Emory University Hospital. What makes her experiences unique and of interest to others? First, she is a resident doctor with a rare congenital disorder. After suffering for years of painful infections and operations she learned to control her problem with monthly infusions and interferon injections. Here is a doctor who has been living the patient experience all her life, from her early childhood, through school and medical school and even now as a doctor. The book discusses her dealings with her condition as well as how it affected her life choices and outlook including her decision to take control of her own destiny by becoming a doctor. A book of courage and determination in the face of obstacles, it is a light read through her life that can be inspiring to all. One thing that makes this book different from similar books of courageous people is that almost all other books have an ending. The person succeeds, the person conquers the problem and moves on, etc. In this case her condition will not be cured, it is a lesson in real life that sometimes there is no end to a problem, only courage to make it the best it can be and go on about life - a good lesson for all of us to learn.
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Summary: Encouraging memoirs for those going through a tough time
Review: "As I Live and Breathe" are the memoirs and musings of Weisman, a resident at Emory University Hospital. What makes her experiences unique and of interest to others? First, she is a resident doctor with a rare congenital disorder. After suffering for years of painful infections and operations she learned to control her problem with monthly infusions and interferon injections. Here is a doctor who has been living the patient experience all her life, from her early childhood, through school and medical school and even now as a doctor. The book discusses her dealings with her condition as well as how it affected her life choices and outlook including her decision to take control of her own destiny by becoming a doctor. A book of courage and determination in the face of obstacles, it is a light read through her life that can be inspiring to all. One thing that makes this book different from similar books of courageous people is that almost all other books have an ending. The person succeeds, the person conquers the problem and moves on, etc. In this case her condition will not be cured, it is a lesson in real life that sometimes there is no end to a problem, only courage to make it the best it can be and go on about life - a good lesson for all of us to learn.
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Summary: an enlightening account
Review: After witnessing the painful treatment and deaths of my in-laws recently, I was most interested in the author's account of her unbearable pain when her face was infected, and the problem she had in obtaining relief. She was a doctor herself and the staff knew her--yet she still had to beg for hours for relief. When will the medical profession treat pain adequately? I am disappointed that after enduring so much pain that she does not recognize this need. Overall, her courage is admirable, and we need more doctors who have endured chronic illness to write accounts that enlighten the general public.
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Summary: Illness is honest
Review: Dr. Weisman provides an insightful look into the unique life of a "patient-doctor" in As I Live and Breathe. She battles a chronic, severe immune system illness, at the same time juggling a medical career that is both rewarding and disheartening. The fight for life is sometimes won and sometimes lost, but she keeps a positive attitude through it all. This comes from the exceptional experience that she encounters everyday, through her disease. She uses the knowledge that she has gained from her own illness to create compassion and true sympathy for the patients that she treats. This is unique; this is where most doctors are lacking. She shows both the understanding and knowledge that is rare in the medical profession.
This autobiography is not only about health and medical experience. It is about everything any human being encounters: marriage, childbearing, dealing with the loss of a loved one, and all the trials that comes with them. Dr. Weisman simply puts a spin on life, expressing it to the audience from a different point of view. She ponders on the unique perspectives of all the patients and families that she treats, and finds a positive force in all of them. She learns from her mistakes to help them better their lives. In a way, it is a sort of cycle, both parties feeding off the other.
The power of family is important, she says; it provides an amazing support system for a patient that is much needed. She speaks fondly of her own family and the support that they provide, giving them credit for their undying courage and love. In wonder, she says, "I have never had to stand by and watch a loved one suffer the way my family has stood by me." She also admires her husband, saying, "[There was a] mix of joy I felt at asking another human being to share in the ambiguity of my life. I credit my husband with tremendous courage in loving me, someone whose future is from the start more fragile than others'." The relationship between family and patient is extraordinary, and Weisman does a wonderful job of depicting this with the sheer honesty that comes with an illness.
This book is truly inspirational; the author takes the incredible situation that she is in, and turns it into a masterpiece of insight into the human mind. It expresses the core of the human spirit and everything it can endure. It shows the reader that one can overcome any obstacle and make light of a seemingly dark situation. It also proves that "bad days" are acceptable and "good days" are even better. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a good, honest read.
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Summary: Beautiful, Elegant, & Wise! A TERRIFIC MEMOIR!
Review: I feel lucky to have been able to read this absolutely exquisite, yet at times gut wrenching, personal memoir, by a very gifted author who, it should be noted, is over twenty years younger than me. As one who has a very limited real life knowledge of medical life and death, it was an eye opener to (what sometimes seems) a completely different world. This is not only a sublime course in medical history and ethics, but a harrowing landscape of how the body can go wrong in myriad ways, and how the medical profession works its genius. The author has been through it from both sides too, and does not flinch in the telling. Not to be missed! Having read thousands of great books in nearly all fields, this is among the all-time best!
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Summary: As I live and Breathe:Notes of a Patient-Doctor By Jamie Wei
Review: I greatly enjoyed reading Dr. Weisman's book. It is one of those rare books that I couldn't put down. Its an insightful look into the dificult life of a patient with a rare disease while she is viewing it both from a patients point of view and a physician's view point.
Her story shows the compassion of some physicians and the painful indifferences of other physicians.
As a health care worker, I admire the way she opened her life so that others might learn and benefit from her experience. I would suggest this book to any patient, family or friend with a life threatening disease. It is a must read for health care workers as a view into the difficulties our patients must face.
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Summary: As I live and Breathe:Notes of a Patient-Doctor By Jamie Wei
Review: I greatly enjoyed reading Dr. Weisman's book. It is one of those rare books that I couldn't put down. Its an insightful look into the dificult life of a patient with a rare disease while she is viewing it both from a patients point of view and a physician's view point.
Her story shows the compassion of some physicians and the painful indifferences of other physicians.
As a health care worker, I admire the way she opened her life so that others might learn and benefit from her experience. I would suggest this book to any patient, family or friend with a life threatening disease. It is a must read for health care workers as a view into the difficulties our patients must face.
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Summary: As I Live and Breathe
Review: I greatly enjoyed this book, it was very informative. I also have a PID because our disorder is very rare I at times feel like I am fighting this battle all alone. The author tells her story very well, some of the same things I have gone through, but some I have not. Each person is different. I would recommend this book to anyone especially those dealing with PID patients.
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Summary: Disappointment
Review: I liked this book a lot for about the first half. I've always been interested in medical non-fiction and this was, for the most part, fascinating. Until page 151, where she wrote, "Death is not pretty. In the movies, people lie in bed in lace nightgowns, their breath slows, they reach their hands out and, in a quiet sigh, they expire. I have seen many people die, and none have died like that. They rage. There is terrible pain and confusion. Their bodies bruise and bleed. They moan." While I certainly don't expect to die "movie-style", I found her descriptions unsettling. I am pushing 70, am in excellent health and until reading that, I have had no fear of the process of death. Now I am uneasy about it. The "Begotten" chapter seemed to me just more of the same from the first half. I learned more than I wanted or needed to know about this remarkable woman. "Begetting" was just plain boring to me. Been-there-done-that sort of thing. I skimmed most of that chapter. (Of course I am happy for her.) I felt that the book was worth reading, but I'm afraid I can't recommend it.
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Summary: Well Written and Compelling
Review: I really couldn't put this book down once I got started, which was about 44 hours ago. This book is autobiography or memoir (I really don't know the difference) and is a quick read at 243 pages because Jamie Weisman herself is only 36 or 37 years old. What is compelling about this book is Weisman's honest look at her congenital immune deficiency, the way she has dealt with and the way it has affected the significant people in her lives (her parents, her husband). A big part of the way that she has chosen to deal with this disease is by going to medical school and becoming a doctor. One of the most powerful passages in the book is when she writes, "...... I start medical school. I come to know far more about immune deficiencies than my father does. I find my own doctors and Emory University and begin making my own decisions about my health care...... I have relieved my father of the double burden of not only loving me while I am sick but also having to be my doctor" (pg 194). This passage is powerful for me because, to my mind, she has taken responsibility for her life, gained as much knowledge as possible about her condition, and is relying on herself to manage it. I also really liked the fourth chapter, "All Too Human", where she talks about the inevitability of errors in medecine. Doctors are people, too; hospitals are worked in by people. Too many people just treat doctors like omniscient gods but they are not; they are limited and fallible people, like everyone else. The third chapter, "Beautiful Failure", is mainly about a surgeon who removed a hideous lump from her face and gave her back her appearance. There is a twist and it is really a powerful and beautiful chapter. The book lost a little steam for me in Chapters 5 and 6 though it picked up a bit after that. Weisman is now a mother and the final chapter "Begetting", is mainly about her struggles to become pregnant and her fears of complications due to her condition. All in all, a courageous struggle, an interesting look at the practice of medecine and an honest look inside one person, and her family's, life. ...
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