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Dancing at the River's Edge: A Patient and Her ...

A book by Alida Brill

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A brave book

Apr 20, 2009

by Linda_in_Maine

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Alida Brill and Dr. Michael Lockshin bravely reveal their own realities in this lyrical book about living with chronic illness. Alida Brill has suffered from aggressive auto-immune disease since childhood, the disease and her negotiation with it shaping her life. Michael Lockshin is her doctor, and from Alida and his other patients he distills the art of listening to what is important.

From both doctor and patient we hear of the power imbalance, the investment of trust in treatment decisions, the awareness that priorities are not straightforward and can't be measured in a logical, linear way. We learn that effective partnering in health care involves negotiation and that no fear or hope is irrelevant. We learn that people will risk anything to achieve a goal if it's important enough to them, and that in a nurturing, caring relationship, this must be respected.

Alida Brill's writing is often heart-wrenching in its honesty. Her desire to give affirmation to other sufferers permeates the book, and her observations about loving and trusting in intimate relationships are crystal-sharp. There is a continuum from full health to life-threatening illness, and it never pays to assume you know where on that continuum you will stand tomorrow.

Dr. Lockshin opens the book with a riveting essay on the unique time scale of chronic illness. It can't be cut out or cured or even rehabilitated in the time frame we associate with many medical encounters. Instead, the "now" in the life of a person with chronic disease incorporates the experience of the past and the unknowable future. The acceptance of this concept is a necessary negotiation.

Dancing at the River's Edge: A Patient and Her Doctor Negotiate Life with Chronic Illness is about so much more than living with chronic illness--it's a book about living in a world full of people with individual realities and hopes. Whether or not your life involves a daily accommodation to health issues, you will find something in this book to stretch your awareness and enrich your life.

Linda Bulger, 2009

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More Dancing at the River's Edge: A... reviews

review by starmoth. April 12, 2009

The disturbing subject of power and chronic illness

I myself am `dancing at the river's edge' with my oncologist in a long-term relationship that I never would have dreamt of before cancer began to disrupt my inner, most private self. At least my body had the grace--or the genetic strength to hold off the mutating cells until I was in my fifties. Author Alida Brill had to learn how to deal with a devastating auto-immune illness, an atypical form of Wegener's Granulamatosis, in her teens. Unfortunately, the author's spectrum … more

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review by Linda_in_Maine. March 04, 2009

A brave book

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review by RobertYokoyama. February 08, 2009

This is an interesting book about chronic disease

I have never read a book about anyone with a chronic illness. I never thought that people suffering with chronic illness would have such a close relationship with their doctor. Both Alida Brill and Dr. Michael Lockshin are very honest about their lives. This book gives readers a sense of what is like to be a patient with a chronic disease. This book also gives readers a sense of what it is like to be a doctor treating chronic diseases. Alida Brill is very candid about how Wegener's Granulamatosis … more

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see all Dancing at the River's Edge: A... reviews (4)

About the reviewer

Linda Bulger (Linda_in_Maine)
Ranked #162

When I love a book, I want to wave it in somebody's face and say "Look! Read this!" The internet was made for people like me, don't you think? The lunch.com crowd seems friendly enough... … more