"In the cancer ward of a VA hospital, where prognoses are often grim and time is scarce, Dr. Tripp practices a form of medicine that resists detachment, in the tradition of great doctors turned authors Atul Gawande and Siddhartha Mukherjee. As a radiation oncologist, he uses powerful tools to see inside the body, revealing disease with clinical precision. But his skill also lies in translation--helping patients understand not only what the images show, but what treatment will mean for their lives. His conversations reveal the delicate balance between empathy and honesty, reassurance and realism, that defines medicine at its most human." --Laura Landro, author of Survivor: Taking Control of Your Fight Against Cancer There is nearly always an information imbalance when a doctor speaks with a patient. Patrick Tripp has spent his career treating cancer patients at Veterans Affairs hospitals where the difference in their life experiences--not to mention education, age, income level, and race--adds to the challenge. Tripp's writing reveals a caring and careful doctor actively working out the best way to share information and make decisions with each of his patients.
The reader is brought into the intimate spaces of the clinic to witness discussions with patients, with their family members, and with specialists conferring on the best path forward. These conversations are not only about disease and treatment, but about family matters and personal history. Patients recount harrowing experiences fighting in Vietnam, struggles with alcohol and drugs, previous health emergencies. A veteran with PTSD talks about roaming his house carrying a machete. Men dealing with prostate cancer discuss sexual function in surprising and humorous ways. Brief lessons on the history of cancer treatment and the science behind today's technology are woven throughout. Full of compassion and candor, Dr. Tripp's essays offer insight to aspiring doctors, to cancer patients and their family members, and to anyone interested in examples of how to communicate and connect under difficult circumstances.