Customer Reviews

As I Live and Breathe: Notes of a Patient-Doctor

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"As I Live and Breathe" are the memoirs and musings of Weisman, a resident at Emory University Hospital. What makes her experiences unique and of interest to others? First, she is a resident doctor with a rare congenital disorder. After suffering for years of painful infections and operations she learned to control her problem with monthly infusions and interferon injections. Here is a doctor who has been living the patient experience all her life, from her early childhood, through school and medical school and even now as a doctor.

The book discusses her dealings with her condition as well as how it affected her life choices and outlook including her decision to take control of her own destiny by becoming a doctor. A book of courage and determination in the face of obstacles, it is a light read through her life that can be inspiring to all. One thing that makes this book different from similar books of courageous people is that almost all other books have an ending. The person succeeds, the person conquers the problem and moves on, etc. In this case her condition will not be cured, it is a lesson in real life that sometimes there is no end to a problem, only courage to make it the best it can be and go on about life - a good lesson for all of us to learn.

Weisman could successfully write about any topic; that she chose to write about medicine, death and illness is like having a friend answer a question that you don't dare ask.

The book gives a grim and graphic picture of what it is like to watch someone die from cancer. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone in the late stages of a terminal illness. There is plenty of despair in these pages.

But there is also hope. Weisman has accepted that she will never be cured, that she will always need regular gamma globulin and interferon treatments, that she may one day get lymphoma. While ill she marries, earns a medical degree, has a baby, writes a book and takes care of the dying. Her cure for the fear of death is indeed living.

This book is instructive for anyone considering medical school, for those curious about death and for those interested in the ethics, economics and diagnostic challenges of modern medicine. In the end, it is an inspiring read for most anyone.

I greatly enjoyed reading Dr. Weisman's book. It is one of those rare books that I couldn't put down. Its an insightful look into the dificult life of a patient with a rare disease while she is viewing it both from a patients point of view and a physician's view point.
Her story shows the compassion of some physicians and the painful indifferences of other physicians.
As a health care worker, I admire the way she opened her life so that others might learn and benefit from her experience. I would suggest this book to any patient, family or friend with a life threatening disease. It is a must read for health care workers as a view into the difficulties our patients must face.

I'm a doctor, and i have never before read a book that so compellingly describes both the patient experience and the frustrations of learning to practice medicine. Dr. Weisman writes personally about her dependence on and aggravation with medicine and its many, many limitations. She weaves tales of candor and passion that capture how she, of all people, can make medicine her life work, and maintain it as a source of hope for her illness, when both the people and theories of medicine have failed her time and again, often with life-threatening consquences. I recommend this book to anyone who has ever had any contact with the medical profession.

I feel lucky to have been able to read this absolutely exquisite, yet at times gut wrenching, personal memoir, by a very gifted author who, it should be noted, is over twenty years younger than me. As one who has a very limited real life knowledge of medical life and death, it was an eye opener to (what sometimes seems) a completely different world. This is not only a sublime course in medical history and ethics, but a harrowing landscape of how the body can go wrong in myriad ways, and how the medical profession works its genius. The author has been through it from both sides too, and does not flinch in the telling. Not to be missed! Having read thousands of great books in nearly all fields, this is among the all-time best!

Dr. Weisman provides an insightful look into the unique life of a "patient-doctor" in As I Live and Breathe. She battles a chronic, severe immune system illness, at the same time juggling a medical career that is both rewarding and disheartening. The fight for life is sometimes won and sometimes lost, but she keeps a positive attitude through it all. This comes from the exceptional experience that she encounters everyday, through her disease. She uses the knowledge that she has gained from her own illness to create compassion and true sympathy for the patients that she treats. This is unique; this is where most doctors are lacking. She shows both the understanding and knowledge that is rare in the medical profession.
This autobiography is not only about health and medical experience. It is about everything any human being encounters: marriage, childbearing, dealing with the loss of a loved one, and all the trials that comes with them. Dr. Weisman simply puts a spin on life, expressing it to the audience from a different point of view. She ponders on the unique perspectives of all the patients and families that she treats, and finds a positive force in all of them. She learns from her mistakes to help them better their lives. In a way, it is a sort of cycle, both parties feeding off the other.
The power of family is important, she says; it provides an amazing support system for a patient that is much needed. She speaks fondly of her own family and the support that they provide, giving them credit for their undying courage and love. In wonder, she says, "I have never had to stand by and watch a loved one suffer the way my family has stood by me." She also admires her husband, saying, "[There was a] mix of joy I felt at asking another human being to share in the ambiguity of my life. I credit my husband with tremendous courage in loving me, someone whose future is from the start more fragile than others'." The relationship between family and patient is extraordinary, and Weisman does a wonderful job of depicting this with the sheer honesty that comes with an illness.
This book is truly inspirational; the author takes the incredible situation that she is in, and turns it into a masterpiece of insight into the human mind. It expresses the core of the human spirit and everything it can endure. It shows the reader that one can overcome any obstacle and make light of a seemingly dark situation. It also proves that "bad days" are acceptable and "good days" are even better. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a good, honest read.

Written by Jamie Weisman, a physician-patient with a rare, hard-to-diagnose illness, the reader sees all facets of a medical mystery. What was really frightening to me was the length of time it took to diagnose Weisman's condition, despite the fact that her father, a doctor, was always there, questioning, observing, yet unable to help.

She endured years of frustration, pain, anguish, and physical deformity before being diagnosed with a congenital immune deficiency.It is controlled through monthly treatments with gamma globulin and by self-injections every few days with interferon. There is, however, no cure.

Her illness inspired Weisman to go to medical school, and she is now a physician at Emory in Atlanta. She writes eloquently about how she practices medicine while dealing with her illness. Her harrowing story makes for tough but compelling reading.

I could have done without the last sections, "Begotten" and "Begetting", or at least a shorter account of her attempts to have a child.

Otherwise this book read like a medical thriller.

I greatly enjoyed this book, it was very informative. I also have a PID because our disorder is very rare I at times feel like I am fighting this battle all alone. The author tells her story very well, some of the same things I have gone through, but some I have not. Each person is different. I would recommend this book to anyone especially those dealing with PID patients.

After witnessing the painful treatment and deaths of my in-laws recently, I was most interested in the author's account of her unbearable pain when her face was infected, and the problem she had in obtaining relief. She was a doctor herself and the staff knew her--yet she still had to beg for hours for relief. When will the medical profession treat pain adequately? I am disappointed that after enduring so much pain that she does not recognize this need. Overall, her courage is admirable, and we need more doctors who have endured chronic illness to write accounts that enlighten the general public.

Weisman is an extremely gifted writer, and I suspect a gifted healer as well. She has the rare ability to communicate personal and painful experiences in a way that is universally accessible. Reading her book, I felt at times that I couldn't put it down, that I got carried by the lyricism of her language. At other times I found that I could not read more than a section at a time, because the content of the stories she tells -- about her experiences both as a hurter and as a healer -- are so full of genuine struggle and sentiment that I became overwhelmed. Weisman tells of her own struggles and frustrations without self-pity; she tells of those of her patients' and loved ones' without self-aggrandizement. This is a must-read.