A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor [Paperback]

David Loxterkamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1997

A family physician describes the universal struggle with adversity and discovers strength through work, faith, community, and love.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Loxterkamp is a family practitioner in Belfast, Maine, and The Measure of My Days is an account of one year in his life and those he serves. It soon becomes clear in Loxterkamp's chronicle that one need not look to big city emergency rooms for medical drama: among his patients, the doctor includes one woman suffering from the debilitating and ultimately fatal Lou Gehrig's disease and another dying slowly from lung cancer. The dramatic, the tragic, and the transcendent moments of medicine are interspersed in Loxterkamp's journal with more mundane matters--breakfast with his family, Easter Sunday services at church, shopping at the supermarket--that complete the picture of a small-town doctor's life.

In the pages of Loxterkamp's journal, the reader meets mill workers and lobster fishermen, churchgoers and backsliders, young and old, the just-born and the soon-to-die. The author's relationships with his friends, neighbors, and patients, as well as the greater issues that arise from those relationships, form the backbone of this thoughtful, year-in-the-life memoir. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Journals are by definition introspective and personal, an unfamiliar perspective from which to focus on a physician. A family man and family-practice physician in Belfast, Maine, Loxterkamp here chronicles the year 1992, introducing readers to his family and colleagues as well as patients, neighbors, and friends. Loxterkamp, a devout Roman Catholic, is sometimes disconcertingly candid in recording the events, expectations, and disappointments of his medical day?the births, deaths, and the in-between health of most patients. When you turn the final page, you feel that you have met a decent, intelligent man, but you are not so sure what you have learned that you didn't know before. For larger collections.?James Swanton, Harlem Hosp. Lib., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 333 pages
• Publisher: UPNE (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874518857
• ISBN-13: 978-0874518856
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #230,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > New England

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for those who want a slow read, January 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book a good deal, particularly Loxterkamp's attention to God and faith and the notion of ministering. I admire Loxterkamp's bravery for so much soul-searching over a year of his practice. This is a book to savor for those interested in rural medicine or family medicine. I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because I found his writing a bit labored. It's slow-going reading. It's also very much about him, him, him. A good contrast is to read Verghese's In My Own Country. Loxterkamp lacks Verghese's fluid style and attention to others. Despite his efforts to humanize, Loxterkamp presents fairly 2-dimensional portraits of his patients. This book is really more of an interior meditation, albeit a very good one.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Medicine For More Of The Right Reasons, March 7, 2001

By 

S. Kelley (Cleveland,Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor (Hardcover)

I had some spare time and was browsing through Amazon when I ran across this book. I have owned the hardcopy book for several years, I had purchased it after reading an article in "Life" magazine about Dr. Loxtercamp in which this book had been noted. I found the book most interesting and found myself walking through the area of Maine he practices as he went about journalling his days and his times & thoughts of his personal family time.

I found the man and his story most inspiring. Alot of people in today's medicine either are in the field for the money or find themselves disallusioned with the field because of all the insurance buracracy. I find those people who are in their field because that is where they truly want to be and for the want of helping others to be a rare find.

I could also follow along Dr. Loxtercamp's views and journeys of a small town doctor from working in the medical area. He tells his story compassionately and the reader can feel his humanity for others.

Over the past couple of years, I had looked forward for another publication and writing for Dr. Loxtercamp but sadly never ran across progression of this book. I found myself wanting to know more about how his journey has progressed along in the small town medical practice.

A highly suggested read.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a autobiography of the life of a doctor., July 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: A Measure of My Days: The Journal of a Country Doctor (Hardcover)

This is the first book in a long time that I read with care. Usually I skim through pretty rapidly. I liked his candor and insight into his patients' lives. It was interesting how he managed to intertwine his professional life with his family. I enjoyed his constant concern about the effect of religion on his life and others. His questions about death and dying were good. It has to be of concern for all of us eventually. I recommended this book to our local librarian!