Medical Memoirs

ALS is a deadly disease that didn't want to let go of me. I went from hope to planning my own death as a way of escaping this demon. My journey is a view into the life of a person who needs 24-hour care, never any privacy. I was given 18 months to get my affairs in order. That lead me to seeking a higher power than the doctors. I have never witnessed an energy healing until it happened to me. This book is my call to each of you and your family who are challenged by ALS. My frame of mind was my only power.

Sara appears to have everything it takes to be happy: a loving wife, a beautiful home, and a successful biotech career. But inside, she’s battling a perplexing, self-destructive impulse that has driven her to sabotage relationships—including her marriage.

Amid the chaotic world caused by Covid, Gail receives an expected diagnosis, not having had any symptoms it is a total shock to her. How does she cope with this news and get her head around it, as she is going through her treatment, the bombshell of her husbands illness is added into the mix. Life is certainly different, It's never going to be the same again, trying to find a new normal, whatever that is, a roller-coaster of ups and downs and emotions. Trying to navigate a path that is so different, sometimes so hard and difficult, yet is now part of her everyday life.

When a sudden onset of manic episodes lands her in a psychiatric ward, what is an established, respected psychotherapist to do? With an otherwise firm sense of self and an openness to new insights, Berger confronts the stumbling blocks of shame and stigma. A series of close friends and mentors stand by her through challenges with abusive colleagues, conflicted relationships with men, estrangement from her mother, and confusion about what truly matters.

A Remembrance of Things Forgotten describes Steven's journey from being a high-powered lawyer, to going to Seminary, and then to being an interfaith hospital chaplain intern seeing cancer patients on two oncology units at a major New York Medical Center. The book describes his visits with patients and explores the heartbreak – and inspiration – of their suffering and how they opened his heart to the precious worth of their lives and to the very real presence of a divine love, realer than real, shining concretely in each room and in each patient's heart.

Grow Healthier as You Grow Older is a personal look at the history of the fitness revolution, a guide for preventive health and fitness to improve the quality and quantity of your life, and an inspirational account of Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s lifelong dedication to the mission of serving others. These days, workouts come in a wide variety, from hot yoga to HIIT (high intensity interval training) classes, pickleball to hip-hop dance. Exercise can be used in three ways: for rest and relaxation, for muscle-building and figure-contouring, and for cardiorespiratory fitness.

At age 32, I woke up in a hospital bed. I was paralyzed on the entire left side of my body. After two weeks of extensive testing, medical doctors diagnosed me as having multiple sclerosis (MS). MS has the highest rates of depression among all disabilities. I have learned how to reframe everything, and I have minimal depression. I live an energized, full, and loving life, and I can transfer my process.

Into the Mist is a powerful love story that contains important lessons for general listeners as well as caregivers. The compelling narrative carries us through the unexpected ordeal of coping with the worsening signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. No listener will take anything for granted ever again. Lena's decline and Paul's devotion will leave us saddened but inspired as the couple manages to live from one moment of joy to the next. After listening to the book, we understand that death is not the end; it is the beginning of something mysterious and wonderful.

In the tradition of books by such bestselling physician-authors as Atul Gawande, Siddhartha Mukherjee, and Danielle Ofri, this beautifully written memoir by an emergency room doctor takes place during one of his routine shifts at an urban ER. Intimately narrated as it follows the experiences of real patients, it is filled with fascinating, adrenaline-pumping scenes of rescues and deaths, and the critical, often excruciating follow-through in caring for the patients’ families.

My Friends Walk Barefoot, based on actual events, tells the story of Jim Humphreys, a veterinarian in Southeast New Mexico who for more than three decades treated everything from dogs to donkeys, cats (including a Bengal tiger) to cows, and canaries to ostriches. Each chapter takes the listener on a new adventure filled with excitement, drama, and humor. You will laugh and you will cry as you experience the challenges faced by this country doctor whose patients, some tiny, others huge, some loving, others dangerous, all contribute to a heartwarming and magical journey.

At age 55, Jeffrey L. Reynolds, Ph.D., crossed the finish line at Ironman Florida, the crowning achievement of his endurance sports journey. Just weeks later, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He fought through treatment, recovered—and was hit again. This time, it was Stage 3B colorectal cancer. In Every Mile Matters, Reynolds shares how the physical training, mental fortitude, and resilience developed through triathlon racing became his greatest weapons in the fight for his life. He didn’t just apply his athletic mindset—he relied on it. Each round of radiation became a daily workout.

Dr. J. Paul Luftman had built a successful career as a physician—dedicated, driven, and always on call. Like many in healthcare, he wore his exhaustion as a badge of honor, pushing through chronic stress and overload. But beneath the surface, something was breaking. One day, it did. He suffered a massive “widowmaker” heart attack that nearly ended his life.

Irvine Lewis experienced a life changing illness at the age of forty-six that changed his outlook on life. Over the last ten years he regained his health, independence and love for life but not without challenges. He is an IT consultant working as a Business Systems Analyst. In his spare time, he enjoys keeping fit, playing music and providing music for therapy to uplift and motivating people. Lewis is married with four children. He is a man who knows the worth of giving selflessly and the importance of valuing others no matter who they might be.

Der Patientenanwalt Peter Gellner vertritt seit vielen Jahren Betroffene und ihre Angehörigen nach medizinischen Behandlungsfehlern und erstreitet Recht und Schadensersatz für sie. In seinem erfolgreichen Podcast Tatort Krankenhaus schildert er echte Fälle aus seiner Kanzlei: tragische Schicksale von Patienten und ihr juristisches Nachspiel. Dieses Buch versammelt 30 dieser spannenden Geschichten aus dem Grenzgebiet von Recht und Medizin, darunter viele neue und bislang unveröffentlichte Fälle.

In his memoir Mind over Borders, Dr. Kalyana Battu takes listeners on an unprecedented journey through the complexities of the human mind. With candid insights drawn from over four decades in the medical field, particularly in forensic psychiatry, Dr. Battu reveals the personal and professional struggles that shaped his career.

The story of the pandemic is the story of women. This riveting narrative offers an account of COVID-19, reminding us of women's leadership and resilience, reflecting back hope and humanity as we all figure out a new normal, together. Through intimate portraits of Canadian women in diverse situations and fields, Women of the Pandemic is a gripping narrative record of the early months of COVID-19, a clear-eyed look at women's struggles that highlights their creativity, perseverance, and resilience as they charted a new path forward during impossible times.

When the partner of Emmy Award–winning screenwriter Abi Morgan abruptly collapsed from a mysterious illness, doctors were concerned that he would not survive. Then, six months later, Jacob woke from his coma, to the delight and relief of his family and friends—except this proved to be anything but a Hollywood ending. Because to Jacob, the woman standing at his bedside, who had cared for him all these months, was not his partner. Not his children’s mother. Not the woman he loved. Sure, she looked like his Abi, but this was an imposter, living someone else’s life.

How does one begin to treat such cases, to counsel people whose lives may be changed forever? How does one train the next generation of clinicians to deal with the moral and medical aspects of brain disease? Dr. Ropper and his colleague answer these questions by taking the listener into a rarified world where lives and minds hang in the balance.

A healing resource that blends practical plant-based knowledge with spiritual reconnection to show how a respect for and communion with our natural world guides us toward healing.

Following up her international best seller The Zookeeper's Wife, Diane Ackerman tells the breathtaking story of the stroke that deprived her husband, Paul West - a distinguished novelist and poet - of every scrap of language beyond the syllable "mem". In her characteristically glorious prose, Ackerman weaves together the latest science on stroke and the brain’s ability to store and process language, with her intensely personal journey as caregiver in helping Paul to an extraordinary recovery.