The Patient from Hell How I Worked with My Doctors to Get the Best of Modern Medicine and How You Can Too

by Schneider, Stephen H.; Lane, Janica

• ISBN13: 9780738210780
• ISBN10: 0738210781
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-26
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books

Summary

In the bewildering days after diagnosis of a severe disease, patients learn two daunting facts: One, no doctor has all the answers, and two, there are no answers, only odds. For readers (and their families) who want to be involved in the key choices regarding treatment, Dr. Schneider is the ideal guide. A climate scientist, his life's work is decision making in the face of great uncertainty. This important book is both his own gripping story of working with his doctors to get the best treatment possible, and also a brilliant critique of the flawed system under which doctors must now operate. "Receiving a diagnosis of cancer can bring out the best or the worst in patients.... For Stephen H. Schneider, Ph.D. it brought out the fighter.... The story is compelling.... It offers a number of positive and useful messages for patients enduring chemotherapy, radiation, and other cancer treatments." (Journal of the American Medical Association) "Compelling...a frightening medical adventure." (Donald Kennedy, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief ofScience)

Author Biography

Stephen H. Schneider, Ph.D., is Professor of Biological Science at Stanford University, a MacArthur Prize Fellowship winner, and author of major works on climate change and the environment. He has written for and his works have been covered by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and London Times.

Table of Contents

Preface: I'm Just a Patient—Doesn't the Doctor Know Best?	ix
CHAPTER 1 "But Doctor, It Takes Three Tests to Find the Bottom"	1	(13)
CHAPTER 2 This Better Not Be Serious—I've Got a Plane to Catch	14	(19)
CHAPTER 3 Whew? The Tests Are Negative, and I've Got a Plane to Catch	33	(9)
CHAPTER 4 Taking My Lumps: Biopsy Blues	42	(25)
CHAPTER 5 "Once per Lethal Disease": Coping with Chemo	67	(18)
CHAPTER 6 "How Can You Know I'm in Remission?"	85	(24)
CHAPTER 7 What's So Special About Fifty-Five?	109	(14)
CHAPTER 8 Graduation to the Bone Marrow Unit	123	(16)
CHAPTER 9 Zap It to Me: Staring into a Hiroshima-Dose of Radiation	139	(15)
CHAPTER 10 Hospital Arrest	154	(17)
CHAPTER 11 My Re-Birthday	171	(7)
CHAPTER 12 How Much Risk Is Too Much?	178	(6)
CHAPTER 13 Can't I Stay Another Day?	184	(11)
CHAPTER 14 Darth Vader in Pink	195	(10)
CHAPTER 15 A Delicate Balance	205	(8)
CHAPTER 16 Size Matters	213	(8)
CHAPTER 17 "In Cancer, Perfect Is Important"	221	(10)
CHAPTER 18 "I Think Your Kidneys Did You a Favor"	231	(18)
CHAPTER 19 A Successful Partnership	249	(8)
CHAPTER 20 You and Your Docs: Allies, Not Adversaries	257	(10)
Afterword: A Caregiver's Journey	267	(10)
Notes	277	(8)
A Guide to Web References	285	(4)
Acknowledgments	289	(2)
Index	291	(9)
About the Authors	300