Chasing My Cure: A Doctor’s Race to Turn Hope into Action

On January 30, 2020 By upstateasbIn Memoir, Nonfiction, science1 Comment

Release Date: September 10, 2019 / Support your local indie bookstore by purchasing a copy here!

Can’t really say why I’ve been avoiding medical memoirs lately, but this one…..well, this one got in my face, in my head and simply wouldn’t be denied. After losing his mother to a brain tumor while he was an undergrad, David Fajgenbaum committed himself to becoming a doctor. He wanted to fight back against cancer, however while in medical school, he found himself feeling extremely tired, his lymph nodes were swollen and other symptoms began to develop as well. Doctors suspected lymphoma or other blood cancer, but this was not a positive diagnosis. With lightning speed, he became sicker and sicker: pain, nausea, massive fluid retention, organ failure, ICU, not expected to live, saying good-bye to friends and family. Then, just as unexpectedly, his condition stabilizes and he’s released from the hospital, only to relapse soon after. Finally a diagnosis, and it is not lymphoma. Good news. Rather, it was HHV-8-negative, idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease, and he had to google that one. Almost invariably fatal with death occurring from multiple organ failure an average of one year after diagnosis. So his illness had a name, but little else, and it was certainly not good news. David was to suffer five near-death experiences from organ failure.

Castleman disease is one of many orphan diseases, orphaned because they are so rare that study and research for a cure does not come with enough bang for the buck. Maybe one researcher somewhere, maybe not. Maybe one study, maybe not. And David’s illness, as an additional complication, is a variation of this hothouse orchid of a disease, not just your “everyday” version. So, here, readers, is where the story lies. David – Dr. Fajgenbaum – chasing his cure. Around bouts of his dreadful illness, he finishes medical school, but rather than going into a residency program afterward, he goes for an MBA. He’s going to need business as well as medical savvy because, by now, he has learned how research programs work, and time is critically short. He realizes he’s going to have to find his own cure, probably through off-label use of drugs already FDA-approved for other illnesses. You will be astounded by this young man’s story and by his insightful look at the state of medical research. Everybody, thumbs up and a standing O. Good job all the way around, Dr. Fajgenbaum.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Olaf Olafsson’s The Sacrament

On January 28, 2020 By upstateasbIn Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Scandinavian LiteratureLeave a comment

Release Date: December 3, 2019 / Support your local indie book store and snag a copy here!

A good book, this. Spare and haunting as Scandinavian works often are, suspenseful and mysterious, a bleak, cerebral look at the darker sides of otherwise decent human beings. And still I couldn’t help wishing for an even better book – because I think it could have been. Perhaps it is just that – a “look at” rather than a “look into”. Motivations are pretty apparent, but something was missing or in the way of understanding the “who” of the characters.

Sister Johanna is sent by Cardinal Raffin to Iceland to investigate allegations against Father August Frans, headmaster of a Catholic school there. Initially we don’t know what the allegations are, but one is tempted to make an educated guess, of course. Other than speaking Icelandic, Sister seems an unlikely choice for this assignment, but Cardinal Raffin has knowledge that he holds against her and it soon becomes apparent that this is not meant to be, must not be, a serious investigation. No one really wants to get at the truth, to have it known.

While the book moves back and forth in time providing background, I still felt that something, some piece or pieces were missing, and I found the chronology somewhat confusing at times, though easy enough to resolve. Maybe just me and my soggy synapses. Of course, it’s a rare book that ticks all the boxes, and in spite of all that and the painfully guarded characters, this book is a worthwhile read. As usual, the driver for me is that I had to know. So will you, and when all is said and done, you might find yourself conflicted about what you know. You’ll know the who and the why right enough, but trust me, not just anyone would do….that. Hmmm, a book that drives you to find out and then leaves you mulling its outcome. Now, you see, that sort of quandary, that sort of something to think about, can go on the plus side for Mr. Olafsson’s book.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by HarperCollins Publishers / Ecco via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb

On January 21, 2020 By upstateasbIn American History, History, Nonfiction, science, World History, World War IILeave a comment

Will World War II ever cease to fascinate us? I certainly hope not, nor should it for, clearly, we’re abysmally slow learners. With The Bastard Brigade, Sam Kean brings us yet another story – the Allied efforts to prevent Hitler and his Nazi scientists from developing an atomic weapon. Or, uh, ahem, at least, to keep them from developing one before we did. Germany’s Uranium Club versus the Manhattan Project of the US. Of course, this is not a new story, but, as told by Mr Kean, it is both chilling and oddly charming. I swear! Now how the hell did he pull that off? Like a man with a keen sense of the absurd who knows exactly what he’s doing, that’s how.

First of all, Mr. Kean is a scientist, and a brief course in rudimentary nuclear physics comes with the price of admission, illustrated nicely, thank you very much, in a way that an eighth grader could understand. Enriched uranium? Hey, guess what? I know what that terms mean now, and it was absolutely painless. Heavy water? Got that one, too. In 1940, the Vemork Hydroelectric Plant on an icy, desolate plateau 100 miles west of Oslo, Norway, was the only producer of heavy water in the world, and Hitler’s crew put in their order for hundreds of pounds of the heretofore seldom-sold stuff in January of that year. (My heart nearly burst with joy when Mr. Kean describes the Vemork officials as being in a state of “flabbergastation” over Germany’s order, and it is my fervent hope that’s actually a word because the Lord knows we need it, but perhaps Mr. Kean was only being tongue in cheek. He’s more than capable of that, and thank you very much, Mr. Kean.) Anyway I was “flabbergastated” to learn that it took two dangerous commando raids to remove the existing heavy water supply before the Nazis could get it. Geez, who knew? Now there’s a “knowledge knugget” for you, and we have only scratched the surface.

Oddball characters and anecdotes abound, such as Moe Berg, professional baseball player and multi-lingual Princeton man – first and most unlikely atomic espionage agent. Madame Curie’s daughter Irene and her husband Frederic Joliot. The rocky start of the OSS, forerunner of the CIA. Joseph Kennedy, Jr., eldest Kennedy son, brother of JFK. Wasn’t he shot down in WWII or his plane crashed – or something? It exploded, actually, in a bizarre mission constructed from fear of an atomic Germany. Kennedy, Jr. volunteered, and every plane after his that made the same attempt was lost as well. I must make myself stop talking about this book. Loved it, loved it, loved it, and I’m just your average grumpy ol’ she-bear. If you’re a WWII devotee, a science geek, sports fan, second hand adrenaline junkie, any sort of history buff, weaponry aficionado………..just name a niche. Cross stitch? Well, hey, OK then, even if there’s nothing for your particular niche, you’ll still love this book. Betcha.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.