Normally, medical stuff terrifies me and I leave the room whenever it comes up. I hate reading about illness, and the smiling through tears recoveries or sadness that follows. But Williams somehow got me to read this one, and it’s a tribute to his beautiful writing and wonderful sense of humor that I kept reading. Yes, there's illness and recovery. But it's a very funny book, as well as appealingly modest, and for anyone facing the travails of getting older its frank confessions of error provide excellent, witty, and meaningful guidance. My wife and I have quite a few friends who are "medical dummies," and it’s always mystifying given that they have excellent resources, including money and knowledgeable acquaintances. Of course, to a large degree it depends on just what circles you inhabit. For example, many of our friends have no concept that food intake influences health, or that doctors—like all other professionals—vary in quality. And the internet, while full of data, can be short on actual reliable information. In short, no knowledge of the lessons Williams so painfully learned.
The story of journalist-businessman Temple Williams's three-year journey navigating the treacherous waters of the modern medical system.
A cancer diagnosis is scary enough. What most of us don't expect is that our lives will be more endangered by the people and methods employed to cure us than by the disease itself. This is exactly what Temple Williams experiences when his prostate cancer leads to a three-year-long comedy of errors that includes massive infection, kidney failure, partial blindness, seeping open wounds, and on and on. Through his experience, Temple transformed from a passive receiver of medical wisdom to an active advocate for his own best interests--a Warrior Patient. His memoir tells his story and in the process offers hope and guidance to others who find themselves victimized at the most vulnerable time in their lives by the very system that is supposed to help them.
Though the subject matter is serious--and the details often raw and graphic--Williams tell his story with a surprising lightness. His rich humor and conversational style draws the reader in and keeps you with him even through the toughest parts of the narrative. And it gets really tough as combination of poor medical practices and inane miscommunication lead Williams to the brink of disability and death.
Chapter by chapter we are taken from a simple fall on the tennis court (that has repercussions that are anything but simple), step by step (or cock-up by cock-up) through Williams's saga. Interwoven with the main narrative are episodes from his life that show Williams is no stranger to life-threatening situations. As a young journalist in New York City, his undercover investigation of the subway police nearly got him killed. And in Africa, he had a close-up and personal introduction to a Malawian prison. After these close calls and several others, the last place he probably expected to face annihilation was in a urologist's office in Boca Raton, Florida.
Williams's close, quick-paced account reveals how much of patient care both in the hospital and out is arranged for the convenience of doctors and staff rather than in the best interests of the people they are supposed to be curing. For instance, catheterization is normally standard procedure upon admittance to the hospital, though it is often unnecessary and can lead to serious infection. Then there's the reluctance of medical professionals to actively communicate with patients. At its most innocent, this failure to engage can leave people confused and unsure as they struggle to understand the details of their condition. At worst it leaves them ignorant of their full range of treatment options and the possible negative, even devastating, side effects of those options.
Throughout the book, Williams offers tips to turn his readers into Warrior Patients. He demonstrates how vital it is that patients arm themselves with knowledge of their own condition and of the backgrounds of those they are trusting to treat them. Williams emphasizes each patient's right to demand honesty and competency from their medical professional...and to fire those professionals who fall short.
In closing, WARRIOR PATIENT is not only full of humor and riveting drama, it instructs and empowers readers how to--literally--fight for their lives in a medical system that considers those they serve more as economic units than as flesh and blood human beings.
In his humorous debut memoir, Williams envisions his shambolic prostate cancer saga as the education of a “medical dope” into “healthy hope.”
A Pulitzer Prize–nominated journalist and editor based in Boca Raton, Florida, Williams embarked on an unwelcome medical odyssey after a biopsy revealed he had prostate cancer. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of a three-year comedy of errors.
The radical robotic prostatectomy went well, but it was followed by hernias, MRSA, kidney failure, shingles, and eye troubles. Doctors failed him with a leaning books“prescription fiasco” and a canceled surgery. This might all have made for an overwhelmingly depressing litany of suffering were it not for Williams’ winning second-person, present-tense narration.
By recounting his journey like a set of instructions to a hapless new patient, he involves readers on an intimate level and gains wry perspective on his own circumstances. Along the way, he gives readable accounts of bodily processes and treatment history, such as a description of early dialysis.
In one memorable chapter, he also recalls four previous occasions when he faced down death: pneumonia at age 4, two reckless teenage car accidents, and incarceration in a Malawi prison.
“Humor is the best doctor you will ever know,” Williams insists, and he follows his own advice by finding the funny side of every situation. That doctor who caused a prescription snafu—which gave Williams blisters all over his groin and legs—attended “the 10,623rd best medical school in the world.”
Even catheterization and erectile dysfunction offer a few laughs, the latter entailing a special class and a penis pump.
Clip art and stock photos heading each chapter . . . add color and whimsy. Yet Williams stresses that patients must demand answers and hold their physicians to account.
There are serious warnings here, too, often delivered in short “Warrior Patient rule” aphorisms at the end of each chapter. For instance, “If you need help, get it. Bravery is for dead people.”
Equally sardonic and informative—definitely not your average cancer memoir. — Kirkus Reviews
Warrior Patient by Temple Williams is a true story about one man’s struggle to survive a series of medical problems over the space of three years. It’s a witty story full of unexpected humor, which is sometimes deadpan and sometimes cheerful. The aim of this book is clear: educate the unsuspecting public on the follies of the medical system. Recognize the importance of good healthcare. Be aware and alert regarding the medical condition and treatments you have, with all the risks involved. Essentially what Williams wants to show the world is the difference between being a “warrior patient” and a “medical dope.”
The book is effective, and the humor makes these important messages much more pleasant to digest. The chapters end with simple but compelling messages regarding how to be a warrior patient. However, half way through, you realize another unstated recommendation of the book is to take the medical experience seriously. The humor is natural, and each page carries the surprises, angst, discoveries, and wit of an ill man determined to survive an unfortunate series of events. It’s a refreshing book that takes us away from the ubiquitous medical drama approach to depicting the medical world in a down to earth way by showing us the struggles and witty observations of the common patient.
The book is written in the second person. This makes it more direct. The overall effect is that you feel as if the events of this book, although unlucky, could happen to anyone. It’s his death-defying spirit, a keen eye for details, the quest for truth, and an infallible sense of humor which make Williams a great writer.
