Monday, August 24, 2009

not done yet reviewed for the cmaj


I have recovered from chemo but a week end at the
Folk Festival and a night of insomnia have left me completely brain dead.

In lieu of any original content on my part, I wanted a share a wonderful review of Not Done Yet, published in this month's Canadian Medical Association Journal.

A physician who treats breast cancer patients might wonder what this blog-cum-book could offer a busy professional whose daily practice likely holds its own heartbreaking quota of Lauries...

However, Kingston’s book provides the detail and emotional shadings that give meaning to these stark, exterior facts. The honest telling of a singular story weaves the experience of cancer into the whole cloth of a life, reworked after a devastating rupture. She vividly integrates events and see-sawing emotions...

Comfortable in her lay-expert role and an inveterate listmaker, she draws from the negative encounters to compile pointers for health care professionals: "Don’t look horrified when I tell you I have metastatic breast cancer; … Don’t ask me questions about my treatment[s] that are irrelevant to the procedure being performed and/or outside your sphere of knowledge [p 190]"

The author of the review, Sharon Batt, is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University. She is also the author of the book, Patient No More: The Politics of Breast Cancer about her own experience.

Many thanks to my friend N. (herself the editor of Women Who Care - an upcoming book about "Canadian Women’s Personal and Professional Experiences of Health Care and Caring") for submitting my book to the CMAJ for review.

You can download the full pdf of the review here.


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Facebook isn't letting me comment, so I'll leave one here. :) What a great review! Kudos!

Karlien said...

Wow. That is some review...

Rebecca said...

Wonderful -- just wonderful!

FlippyO said...

That's great! I'm really proud of you for not only going through all of your treatment with your sense of humour (I'll spell it Canadian just for you...and Leigh-Ann) intact, but for actually having the energy to write, not just a book, but a GOOD book. Congrats on the good reviews!

Capital Mom said...

That is great! How wonderful.

The Maven said...

You're becoming a near-celebrity in front of my very eyes! I'm really looking forward to being able to say 'Oh, Laurie? Yeah, I knew her BEFORE she became famous'. :P

karlien said...

Has Oprah called yet?

laurie said...

i love you all. xoxo

Dee said...

That's a great review, Laurie! Thank you so much for sharing it!

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