Healing

A stunning book that helped me understand how to survive a serious illness and how to understand hospitals in general. Theresa Brown is also a hell of a good writer. -James PattersonFrom the mammogram that would change her life through her diagnosis, treatment, and recovery, New York Times bestselling author Theresa Brown, Rn, tells a poignant and powerful story about having breast cancer in the United States. Despite her training and years of experience as an oncology and hospice nurse, Brown finds it difficult to navigate the medical maze from the other side of the bed. Why is she so often left in the dark about procedures and treatments? Why is she expected to research her own best treatment options? Why is there so much red tape? At times she's mad at herself for not speaking up and asking for what she needs but knows that being a ""difficult"" patient could mean she gets worse care. Of the almost four million women in this country living with breast cancer, many have had, like Brown, a treatable form of the disease. Both unnerving and extremely relatable, her experience shows us how our for-profit health care industry ""cures"" us but at the same time leaves so many of us feeling alienated and uncared for.