Paul C. (Paul-RLT) reviewed Life in the Balance: A Physician's Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss with Parkinson's Disease and Dementia on + 176 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Dr. Graboys is a famous cardiologist AND now a patient with fairly advanced Parkinson's disease/dementia. This book is his story - mainly his current life.
The book is honest and informing; it deals with personal, marital, medical, philosophical,and social issues. Because Dr. Graboys doesn't follow an organized religion, there is limited discussion of God and related matters.
All in all, an important book for every human being who's wondered about life and death. It's especially valuable to patients (and family members) dealing with chronic debilitating illnesses.
Compared to Michael J. Fox's book... this book deals more with the disease itself and is less auto-biographical.
The book is honest and informing; it deals with personal, marital, medical, philosophical,and social issues. Because Dr. Graboys doesn't follow an organized religion, there is limited discussion of God and related matters.
All in all, an important book for every human being who's wondered about life and death. It's especially valuable to patients (and family members) dealing with chronic debilitating illnesses.
Compared to Michael J. Fox's book... this book deals more with the disease itself and is less auto-biographical.
Barbara P. (gotchagal) -
So much of this book touched my heart and brain both. Aside from how much I admire Dr.Graboys's strength of character and deep intelligence, there were many things he said that I immediately wanted to write down so I could reread them at a future date and remember to refer to them as helpful in my own life.
This is a wonderful book written by a remarkable man.
Here are some of the many editorial reviews of this book:
From Booklist
At the top of his professional game at Bostons Brigham and Womens Hospital and on the Harvard Medical School faculty but at a personal nadir after the death of his wife, cardiologist Graboys began presenting physical and mental signs he at first wrote off as after-effects of prolonged stress and exhaustion. Despite his best efforts to control the situation, first through denial, then by reducing his private-practice patient load, the symptoms doggedly progressed. In the meantime, he remarried. But when he passed out on the wedding day, he knew his problems were more serious than he wanted to admit. Before long, he was diagnosed with the double whammy of Parkinsons disease and Lewy body dementia, an associated degenerative disease. In this stirring and chilling memoir, he takes an unblinking look at himself as his mind and body suffer unrelenting hits from those progressive illnesses. An unforgettable doctor-as-patient account, including reflections by Graboys daughters, sons-in-law, and members of the families blended by his marriage. --Donna Chavez
Review
Praise for the Life in the Balance
[A] small wonder. Unsentimental and unpretentious, it manages to hit all its marks effortlessly. [Graboys] does one of the best jobs on record of doggedly unpeeling the onion-skin layers of alternating ego and vulnerability that encase the doctor turned patientThe New York Times
"A powerful and poignant portrayal of a physician who refuses to have illness rob him of his dignity and joy. A unique and inspiring memoir that captures the resiliency of the human spirit." Dr. Jerome Groopman, Professor, Harvard Medical School, and author of How Doctors Think
Beautifully written, searingly honest, this book lets us see the impact of serious illness on a man who is both a doctor and a patient.Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
I was blown away. ...An eye-opening read. ...A remarkable book. Dr. Timothy Johnson, ABC News Medical Correspondent
This is a wonderful book written by a remarkable man.
Here are some of the many editorial reviews of this book:
From Booklist
At the top of his professional game at Bostons Brigham and Womens Hospital and on the Harvard Medical School faculty but at a personal nadir after the death of his wife, cardiologist Graboys began presenting physical and mental signs he at first wrote off as after-effects of prolonged stress and exhaustion. Despite his best efforts to control the situation, first through denial, then by reducing his private-practice patient load, the symptoms doggedly progressed. In the meantime, he remarried. But when he passed out on the wedding day, he knew his problems were more serious than he wanted to admit. Before long, he was diagnosed with the double whammy of Parkinsons disease and Lewy body dementia, an associated degenerative disease. In this stirring and chilling memoir, he takes an unblinking look at himself as his mind and body suffer unrelenting hits from those progressive illnesses. An unforgettable doctor-as-patient account, including reflections by Graboys daughters, sons-in-law, and members of the families blended by his marriage. --Donna Chavez
Review
Praise for the Life in the Balance
[A] small wonder. Unsentimental and unpretentious, it manages to hit all its marks effortlessly. [Graboys] does one of the best jobs on record of doggedly unpeeling the onion-skin layers of alternating ego and vulnerability that encase the doctor turned patientThe New York Times
"A powerful and poignant portrayal of a physician who refuses to have illness rob him of his dignity and joy. A unique and inspiring memoir that captures the resiliency of the human spirit." Dr. Jerome Groopman, Professor, Harvard Medical School, and author of How Doctors Think
Beautifully written, searingly honest, this book lets us see the impact of serious illness on a man who is both a doctor and a patient.Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People
I was blown away. ...An eye-opening read. ...A remarkable book. Dr. Timothy Johnson, ABC News Medical Correspondent
