Chef Interrupted, A Book Review

During the past week, I reserved a few evenings to read a soon-to-be-released memoir by fellow MS blogger and advocate, Trevis Gleason, who now splits his time between homes in Seattle, Washington, and County Kerry, Ireland. I tossed a throw over my pajamas, curled up with a mug of cocoa, and delved into Chef Interrupted: Discovering Life’s Second Course in Ireland with Multiple Sclerosis (Coffeetown Press, 2015).

Trevis is a former US Coast Guard Navigator and culinary chef who witnessed his life unravel with the loss of his job, his marriage, and his sense of self following a diagnosis of MS in 2001. Deciding to do soem of the things he'd always wanted to do while he still could, Trevis chose to fulfill a dream of his childhood...visiting his ancestral homeland.

Trading the Emerald City for the Emerald Isle, he rents a rustic cottage for three months in “The Town” which becomes the setting for a memorable winter. In Chef Interrupted, Trevis invites us to join him on a lively adventure, replete with well-drawn Guinness, traffic-immune sheep, a steady stream of visitors, rainbows and vistas, recipes, and a sweet pup named Sadie.


Read this post in its entirety:
An MS Memoir: Life Interrupted, Dreams Realized, and Tasty Tidbits

Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: Empowered Patients and Participatory Medicine

Not long ago, I sat in the hair salon getting the gray 'removed' from my head.  I have more gray hairs than I used to, most likely due to age.  Some due to medication, I think.  It's one of those things which you just learn to live with, especially if you juggle chronic illness.

The book I was enjoying was written by a twitter friend and fellow empowered patient, Dave deBronkart, aka "e-patient Dave." Dave was diagnosed with Stage IV Kidney Cancer in January 2007 after an x-ray for a shoulder problem (which was fine) showed a spot on his lung. That spot turned out to be a metastatic tumor from kidney cancer which had spread to his organs, bones, and even muscles.

As you can see ePatientDave is alive and well.  He is proof that it just may be possible to turn cancer into a chronic illness.  But he made that happen with a lot of persistence, being highly engaged in his own care, connections who provided just the right information at the right time, an aggressive treatment trial, the support of many loved ones, and a proactive relationship with his medical team.

Dave had become an e-patient before he had ever heard the term.  In the past two years since, Dave has become the torch-bearer for the empowered patient and participatory medicine movement.  I have viewed footage of some of his speeches at various conferences, so I thought I knew his story.

In reading his book, I learned so much more.   

"Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: How an empowered patient beat Stage IV cancer (and what healthcare can learn from it)"

Here's my disclosure.  Dave was tweeting with some influential e-patients and activists, discussing when they would receive their review copies.  I sent Dave a note.
 

"I'm not a 'big name' blogger, but I'd love to review your book.  Also, look forward to meeting you at http://epatient2010.com"


Dave talked with his publisher and I received a copy ten days later.  Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig is available on Amazon for $17.95 and eligible for free-shipping.  My copy was free to me.

During Dave's journey, he kept in touch with family and friends through a website, CaringBridge, which somewhat resembles a private blog.  A journal to document, share, and keep people informed.  His online journal forms the foundation of the book.  However, it is not the entirety.

Dave's book is full of hope, empowerment, and engaging discussion of the power of the patient in healing health care through participatory medicine.  While I knew the topic going in, I came out relating in a way I had not expected.

Below is an excerpt [pp.96-97, reprinted with permission] which is so rich and honest that the topic transcends cancer, health, or medicine.  Dave's journey delves into the depth of realities, visible, known, acknowledged, and unknown.

Saturday, February 10, 2007 [6 weeks after the x-ray]

What do we name the tumor?

Okay, you know me: I'm a brat about just about everything.  I heard that some people name their cancer and talk to it.  So I've been (idly) wondering what to name this thing.  Nothing normal, that's for sure - nothing like "Frank."  I want it to be something really disrespectful, something that would make it curl up in shame and just get out of town.  What to call it... it's a kidney cancer; call it "Kid Can"?  Naaah.  "KC"?  Bleah.

Thursday I had dinner with daughter Lindsey and she got That Look in her eye.  She looked off to the side and came back with "How about Reeni?  For renal cell carcinoma?"  I kinda like it - it suggests a sneering "Neener neener neener, Reeni is a wiener."

Monday, February 19, 2007 10:30 PM

I'm going to stick my neck out here about how to relate to the cancer inside me.

About ten days ago I posted about coming up with an insulting name for the cancer, something to make it shrivel up and get out of town.

A few days later, Sister Suede raised a thought I've heard (rarely) from others, that there might be another way to look at it: that the cancer is actually part of me (which it is - homegrown by Yours Truly), and it's something to have a different sort of relationship with.

I've thought about it since then, and I want to explore this.  Please play along for a minute.

 *   *   *

All these tumor cells are actually part of me, from me, created by my body.

My rewording of Suede's observation is that there's no integrity in viewing it as something foreign.  It's a mistake, and will surely leave me with no power to be effective in relating to it.

So I'm looking for a way to acknowledge that this is actually part of me.  It's a part that may be working against me, and a part of me that I may not like; but if I don't grant what's so, or if I make it wrong for being what it is, I'll have no power (no effectiveness) in the matter.

In this point of view, the game would be to see what that part of me is incomplete about - what that part of me has been unable to express.  And while thinking about that, I caught a flash that it could be self-loathing about something.

So I'm looking at granting "being" to some sad or angry or disapproving part of me, acknowledging it, being in compassionate acceptance for the pain or fear that is incomplete in it.  I'll let it get complete.

Mind you, I'm not saying I intend to have a warm fuzzy-lovey relationship with self-destruction.  :)  But I have a friend who overcame an unbeatable case of hepatitis-C, and I remembered that he used an approach similar to this, among other things.

I'm not about to stop doing all the treatments I'm doing.  But I'm also getting a strong sense that it makes no sense that I'd have a self-destructive thing growing inside of me.

And as part of that I'll look for an additional name for it, a name that embodies the spirit in which I want to transform this thing.  The idea is that if the unexpressed can get complete, a new future and a new world of possibility can become available.

We shall see.

If you enjoyed that, please go read another excerpt from Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig which was published at KevinMD.com just yesterday.  Read Chapter 3: Facing Death-With Hope.

To learn more about the e-patient white paper and participatory medicine movement, please visit the following websites:

• e-patients.net because health professionals can't do it alone

• e-patients white paper in wiki and pdf form

• Society for Participatory Medicine bringing together e-patients and health care professionals

• epatientdave.com/for-patients

"An engaged patient plays an active role in his or her care. Or, as e-patients.net founder “Doc Tom” Ferguson said, “e-Patients are Empowered, Engaged, Equipped and Enabled.”

We who’ve become e-patients don’t wait for our providers to tell us everything; we get it in gear, we ask questions, we do what we can to help."

You and I who take an active role in our own health care and disease management are e-patients.  We are empowered.  We are engaged.  In our community, we are also empathetic.  Thank you for traveling this journey with me.

And if you wish to follow along, my RA friend Kelly Young is journaling her reading of the book.  Check out Kelly's website at Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior.

Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: How an empowered patient beat Stage IV cancer (and what healthcare can learn from it)
©Richard Davies deBronkart, Jr.
Published by Changing Outlook Press, an imprint of
Changing Outlook LLC.
ISBN: 978-0-9816504-3-2

Postlogue:  Here is the review I left on Amazon for Dave's book.  I meant every word.

As someone living with two incurable chronic illnesses, I didn't think that I could relate to someone who 'beat' cancer.  Well, I was wrong.  We have more in common than I had allowed for in the artificial segregation of patient communities. 

"Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like A Pig" is more than a cancer survivor's story of facing down death.  It is the story of how one patient becomes empowered and engaged in his own health care, without which he may have simply become a statistic.  And not the successful treatment trial responder type statistic.

"ePatient Dave" became an e-patient before he had ever heard the term.  This saved his life and it will help so many other patients who learn from his experiences.  We can all become empowered patients, engaged in our healthcare, working WITH our doctors for better outcomes.

Dave's ongoing story has inspired me and it will you, too.  In other words, I give "Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig" two-thumbs-up.

Shakedown

Like a number of bloggers it appears, I received a request to read and review SHAKEDOWN by Joel Goldman. At first I thought - wow, somebody thinks that I actually have readership - and second I thought - well, she must think that I'm eloquent if she wants ME to review a book. Then, I discovered that I wasn't the only one. Then I decided - sure, I'll get a free book out of it and maybe it'll be a good one.

The reason we MS bloggers were targeted is due to the uncertain nature of our disease, the often physical limitations experienced due to the disease, and most importantly the fear of telling others about our MS lest it jeopardize our relationships, job security or retirement plans. You see the author, Joel Goldman, has a movement disorder and he weaves issues surrounding a yet-to-be-diagnosed neurological condition into the story, a condition which threatens the main character's job and personal relationships.

Here's the Rundown:

Best-known for his Edgar and Shamus nominated Lou Mason thrillers, Joel Goldman's SHAKEDOWN is the launch of a new series featuring Special Agent Jack Davis. In the author's words, Davis is "a man in mid-life whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless victims of crime, to speak for the dead."

Jack Davis is also hiding a secret from the world that may jeopardize his career --- a worsening movement disorder. When his secret is discovered while working a crime scene, Jack finds himself dealing with the fallout on both professional and personal levels, changing his life forever.

In SHAKEDOWN, Davis must come to terms with what is happening to his body while trying to do the work he is meant to do: solve crimes. Accepting his body's changes while trying to work is an all too familiar struggle for author Joel Goldman: Goldman himself has been diagnosed with a movement disorder.

From the Back Cover:

The lives of three people collide over mass murder at a Kansas City residence that Special Agent Jack Davis has carefully staked out for weeks. Kate Scranton, whose job is spotting lies for high-priced courtroom lawyers, is convinced that mild-mannered Latrell Kelly knows something about the crime. But Latrell is hiding far more than Kate can guess. And with Jack half-blinded by an imploding personal life, and someone on his own side leaking crucial information, they're headed straight for the ultimate danger zone...

What Critics are Saying:

"[SHAKEDOWN is] Goldman's latest terrific thriller.... Goldman's surefooted plotting and Davis's courage under fire make this a fascinating, compelling read." ---Publishers Weekly

"SHAKEDOWN is a really fine novel. Joel Goldman has got it locked and loaded and full of the blood of character and the gritty details that make up the truth. Page for page, I loved it." ---Michael Connelly

"SHAKEDOWN is a chillingly realistic crime novel --- it's fast-paced, smartly plotted, and a gripping read to the very last page. Joel Goldman explores --- with an insider's eye --- a dark tale of murder and betrayal." ---Linda Fairstein

Interview with Joel Goldman, from his website:

Q: So what is Shakedown about?
A: Jack Davis is a fifty-year old FBI agent who is haunted by the murder twenty-years ago of his young son. His marriage is crumbling and his daughter is in love with an undercover FBI agent who may have crossed the line and dragged her with him. Kate Scanlon is an expert in the facial action coding system that reveals the truths hidden in micro facial expressions that flash by in the blink of an eye. When five people are slaughtered in a crack house Jack has under surveillance, his world explodes. He turns to Kate for help in tracking the killer and gets more than he asked for.

Q: Jack Davis is a departure from the Lou Mason. What makes him unique?
A: Jack Davis is a man in mid-life whose mission is to give a voice to the voiceless victims of crime, to speak for the dead. In the midst of a murder investigation, he loses control of his career, his family and his body. He has to dig deep to hold on to the people he loves and the world he believes in.

Q: How does he do it?
A: Jack only trusts the hard evidence. He has to open himself to the more subtle clues of human emotions that are hidden behind our facial masks.

Q: Is the facial action coding system real?
A: Absolutely. Dr. Paul Ekman, a psychologist, developed it in the 1970’s. Check out his website, http://www.paulekman.com/ for more details.

Q: Will we see Jack Davis in another thriller after Shakedown?
A: I'm working on a sequel to Shakedown titled The Dead Man.

Q: Anything else in the pipeline?
A: I wrote a short story titled Knife Fight that will be published in 2008 in a mystery anthology sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America. Linda Fairstein is the editor and I'll be in great company.

Q: You have a page on your website called Crime Scene. What's that about?
A: One of the things that make any story come alive is where it takes place. That's certainly been true for me. My books are set in Kansas City, my hometown. Great writers make the setting where the story occurs as real and influential in the story as any character, whether it's a neighborhood, city, county or region. With Crime Scene, I'm going to explore those places and how writers bring them to life and ask readers to share their favorites character places with me.

Q: What drives your stories?
A: That's a great question and it took me about two and a half books to figure that out. About midway through my third book, Cold Truth, I realized that I was writing about families and their conflicts as much as I was writing about murder and mayhem. The conflicts that stem from family relationships are textured, nuanced and varied. It's impossible to run out of ideas. All I have to do is ask myself what happens when things go wrong.

Q: Do you start with the characters or the plot?
A: I start with the names. I create an inventory of male and female names, usually from newspapers and obituaries. Once I get started, I don't like to flop around trying to decide a character's name. After that, I focus more on the characters because their strengths, weaknesses and relationships will drive the plot.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?
A: Just do it. The hardest thing for some people to do is to start. Writing a poem, a story, a play or a book seems overwhelming. Many people have told me that they want to or plan to write a book but they never do anything about it. If writing really is in your blood, the hard part won't be starting. It will be stopping.

More details are available - SHAKEDOWN and Joel Goldman.

So here's what I thought:
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Jack Davis, an FBI agent in Kansas City, MO, is five years from retirement when an unknown medical problem threatens to end his career. Problem is Special Agent Davis has been getting the "shakes" more frequently and with more intensity while he has attempted to hide it from those around him. The cause of the seizure-like shakes is unknown and Jack is reluctant to go to the doctor, presumably for fear of what the doctor may say is the cause of the problem.

The night that someone enters the home of local drug dealer, Marcellus, a house which has been under FBI camera surveillance, and proceeds to brutally murder five people in the house, Agent Davis is seen suffering from one of his "shaking" spells in the backyard of the crime scene. Almost immediately, Agent Davis is taken off active duty, must surrender his gun and badge, and is placed on medical leave. This all happens near the beginning of the book and we know who the killer is. So where's the murder mystery or the thrill of the chase?

Well, as it turns out, the mystery lies not in solving this particular case but in discovering who is leaking information to whom regarding a much larger ongoing investigation. While Agent Davis is supposed to be on leave and off the case, he can't stay out of it and enlists the help of a local Kansas City, KS, cop to conduct some independent investigation of his own. All the while, his secret regarding the "shakes" is now known to those around him, including coworkers, friends, and family, threatening his career and his personal relationships.

Joel Goldman manages to keep the pace throughout the book, only reveiling the key answers to all the secrets very much near the end of the book. The answers truly are a surprise...and I won't give you any clues. But I will let you know that SHAKEDOWN is not a "chick flick" book. There are no steamy love scenes and only a hint of potential unfulfilled desires. Does that make it a man's book? I don't know. The focus of the book is on the process of solving the crimes. In total there are a dozen murders, a couple of missing people, secret hideouts, dead drug dealers, emergency surgery, and an adorable adopted pup.

The book was an easy read, fast paced, and has an intriguing story. Some questions remain unsolved, thus providing material for a sequel. Basically, SHAKEDOWN provides a nice introduction to the main character FBI Special Agent Jack Davis and the important characters in his life. I plan to pass my copy onto my dad and I think that he will enjoy it.

Shakedown
Pinnacle
April 1, 2008
384 pages; $6.99
ISBN-10: 0786016108
ISBN-13: 978-0786016105

If you are interested in Joel Goldman's books, I added a widget below where you can go directly to Amazon to purchase this or any other of Goldman's other crime mystery novels.

Please note that this is not a paid review or advertisement, it is however my opinion. If you were to purchase one of the books I have included on the sidebar, I would receive a very small percentage as an Amazon Associate (full disclosure).

Hugh Downs helping to Hawk Alternative Medicine 'Secrets'

Everyone is trying to grab your dollars. Often this is done by hyping a desperate need for something unique -- information, product, service, etc. -- and creating a sense of urgency in obtaining what's being offered.

After watching Face the Nation this morning, I was assaulted by an infomercial hawking a newly expanded, 'must have' book of the season.

The World's Greatest Treasury of Health Secrets

"Drug industry doesn't want you to know about...."

"It's true -- warts can be cured by ducktape."

"buy one for yourself and more for your loved ones"

So that's it...buy, buy, buy...spend YOUR money for a collection of articles, for secrets that "THEY" don't want you to know, for 'cures' to common chronic illnesses.

Are we to infer that the 'big money medicine' and 'big pharma' industries really want us all to stay ill and unhealthy so that "THEY" can make huge profits off of our illnesses?

Well, there may be some truth to that...but let's get real.

I am confident that my doctors sincerely wish the best for my health and wellbeing. The idea of 'secrets' is offensive and questions the role of 'evidence-based' medicine in our medical/healthcare system.

I wonder if the ingestion of colloidal silver is included in the Treasury. If so, I would question the validity of the entire collection.

The Treasury is over 545 pages and touts the expertise of over 450 experts. Seems to me that each contributor did not receive much print space. How detailed can one get being limited to one page of information?

Below are some details taken from their website:

The world's greatest traditional and alternative doctors join forces at last... and their findings could extend your life by 40 happy, healthy years.

Over 500 pages of secrets including:

• The little-known heart attack symptom that so many people tragically ignore (often you feel no pain at all)...
• Grow your own army of cholesterol-cutting microbes in your gut. These friendly bacteria normally help us digest our food and keep our cholesterol down. Discover the little-known nutrient that restores them to healthy levels.
• The common pain pill that secretly raises your blood pressure. It's a side effect that drug manufacturers hate to talk about, because they make so much money from this remedy. But if you substitute an equally effective pill, your pressure may normalize all by itself.
• Double your immunity to colds. Echinacea... Vitamin C... Zinc... You've tried them all, and they don't work, do they? But our team found this to be foolproof.
• Reverse brain drain. Neurologists call this breakthrough "arborization." It makes your neurons secrete new growth hormones, reactivating your brain. And you can do it yourself in just 20 minutes a day!
• The eating cure for arthritis now proven in 15 different studies. Scientists have long known that some foods reduce inflammation. Others make it worse. This amazingly effective program simply increases the helpful type and dials the others down. Doesn't cost you anything!
• Did you know that breast cancer patients who don't meekly obey doctor's orders are twice as likely to be alive 15 years later? See the surprising reason why.
• The powerful natural powder that stops most prostate tumors from spreading. Totally safe!
• Switch migraines off with simple 3-vitamin formula.

And much, much more!

Over 450 experts, including:

DAVID ALBERTS, MD, Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson
ANN M. ARVIN, MD, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA
JOHN BARON, MD, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH
HERBERT BENSON, MD, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA
KEITH BLOCK, MD, The Cancer Institute Edgewater Medical Center, Chicago
JEFFREY BLUMBERG, PhD, chief, Antioxidants Research Lab, Tufts University, Boston
DR. JOYCE BROTHERS, renowned psychologist and best-selling author
THOMAS BROTT, MD, professor of neurology, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL
DEEPAK CHOPRA, MD, founder, Chopra Center, Carlsbad, CA
JOAN BORYSENKO, PhD, New England Deaconess Hospital, Boston, MA
RACHELLE DOODY, MD, PhD, director, Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas
PETER D. FRY, MD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
JOE D. GOLDSTRICH, MD, former medical director, Pritikin Longevity Center; author, Healthy Heart, Longer Life
WILLIAM B. GRANT, PhD, senior research scientist, NASA
JAMES GORDON, MD, Georgetown Medical School, Washington, DC
JUAN C. GUARDERAS, MD, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL
STEVEN F. HOROWITZ, MD, Stamford Hospital, CT
HENRY D. JANOWITZ, MD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY
DANIEL LEVY, MD, director, Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA
CHRISTOPHER LINSTROM, MD, chief of otology, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary
BERNARD LOWN, MD, professor emeritus, Harvard University School of Public Health, MA
NORMAN MARCUS, MD, Norman Marcus Pain Institute, NY
JOHN MCDOUGALL, MD, director, McDougall Program for controlling heart disease
SAMUEL MEYERS, MD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NY
RANDOLPH M. NESSE, MD, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor
MICHAEL J. NORDEN, MD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry, University of Washington; author, Beyond Prozac
THOMAS PICKERING, MD, Mount Sinai Hospital, NY
SHELDON PINNELL, MD, professor, division of dermatology, Duke University, NC
DAVID S. PISETSKY, MD, Duke University Medical Center, NC
STEVEN PIVER, MD, director and founder, The Gilda Radner Familial Ovarian Cancer Registry
BANDARU S. REDDY, PhD, chief, Division of Nutritional Carcinogenesis, American Health Foundation, NY
RICHARD M. RESTAK, MD, clinical professor, George Washington University School of Medicine, Washington, DC; author, The New Brain
PERRY ROBINS, MD, New York University Medical Center
KENNETH ROTHAUS, MD, Cornell University Medical College, NY; coauthor, Hospital Smarts
ROBIN I. RUSSELL, MD, PhD, chief of gastroenterology, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Scotland
BARRY SEARS, PhD, author of The Zone, former scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
HARVEY B. SIMON, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
MARGARET A. CAUDILL-SLOSBERG, MD, PhD, MPH, instructor of medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH
JAMISON STARBUCK, ND, University of Montana, Missoula
JASON THEODOSAKIS, MD, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson
JUDITH WURTMAN, PhD, research scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; author, Managing Your Mind & Mood Through Food