Description
Book Synopsis“Medicine still contains an oral tradition, passed down in stories: the stories patients tell us, the ones we tell them, and the ones we tell ourselves” writes contributor Madaline Harrison.
Bodies of Truth continues this tradition through a variety of narrative approaches by writers representing all facets of health care.
Trade Review"Those seeking a fuller picture of what it's like living with disease or disability, as well as educators looking for teachable essays for a medical humanities class or writing group, will find this work outstanding."—Aaron Klink,
Library Journal“
Bodies of Truth takes us to a world of miraculous drugs and drug addictions, of doctors who wonder how to shake hands with the prisoners they treat and nurses who come to confession because death has worked its way into their souls. Above all, it’s truth: that our bodies, and the bodies of those we love and care for, so often take us to places we never knew existed, to find strengths we never knew we had. If illness and death are lonesome roads we must at some point travel, I can’t think of a more fitting companion than this volume. The writers here come as strangers to us, but they bring us gifts—their stories—that connect us whether in pain or compassion.”—Paul Shepherd, editor of
Hospital Drive and author of
More Like Not Running Away“I read
Bodies of Truth almost in one sitting, so compelling are the stories. To read this many of them—different illnesses and disabilities, and from different perspectives—is strangely heartening. This is all of us, represented here, wounded in one way or another or looking after the wounded. If we can say how it is, and be listened to, surely the exposure will heal a lot of festering. I am glad to have this beautifully orchestrated, passionately written collection.”—Fleda Brown, author of
My Wobbly Bicycle: Meditations on Cancer and the Creative Life“
Bodies of Truth offers personal accounts of individuals caught up in the lived experience of illness. . . . They are not necessarily asking us to judge, to change the world, or even to react. They merely ask, as did Coleridge’s ancient mariner, that we pause to hear the tale, setting aside for a moment the tasks at hand.”—Jacek L. Mostwin, professor of urology and the director of the Division of Neurological and Reconstructive Urology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and faculty affiliate of the Berman Institute of Bioethics
Table of ContentsContents
Foreword by Jacek L. Mostwin
Preface
Two Hearts
Brian Doyle
Spared
Deborah Burghardt
A Measure of Acceptance
Floyd Skloot
One Little Mind, Our Lie, Dr. Lie
Matthew S. Smith
Locked into Life
Mark Brazaitis
Rendered Mute
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke
Jamie’s Place
Michael Bérubé
A Day in the Grammar of Disease
Sonya Huber
Marked
William Bradley
750 Words about Cancer
Rebecca Housel
The Power of a Handshake
Hugh Silk
Submerged
Tenley Lozano
Where Do You Go from Alston Street?
Kat Moore
Confession
Diane Kraynak
This Moment
Adriana Páramo
Sit Still and Uncover Your Eyes
Elizabeth Brady
Overtones
Meredith Davies Hadaway
The Way of the Spring
Patrick Donnelly
Type One
Riley Passmore
The Bad Patient
Sandra Beasley
A Tribute to the Pharmacist
Taison Bell
Flying into Jerusalem
Katherine Macfarlane
Reluctant Reliance
Erin M. Kelly
An Interview with My Mom
Belinda Waller-Peterson
Days of the Giants
Madaline Harrison
Source Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
