Monday, November 29, 2010

Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders

Every Patient Tells a Story by Lisa Sanders

Lisa Sanders writes a weekly column about diagnostic stories and is also a technical advisor for the House TV series starring Hugh Laurie.

This is her first book and as the title clearly says, it’s about the art of diagnosing patients.

All the stories about diagnosing patients are very informative and interesting, and some cases are truly mysterious but very satisfyingly solved in the end.

Scarily enough, there are a few horrifying cases where misdiagnoses caused a lot of money, suffering, and in some cases, unnecessary deaths. A lot of times, misdiagnoses happen because the doctors are too busy to actually listen to the patient and diagnose them too quickly. Finding a doctor who will take the time to listen is important because the patients’ testimonies can give crucial clues to their condition.

The scariest thing I gained from reading Sander’s book though, is the knowledge that many doctors are too stubborn and set in their ways to learn from mistakes or to change with new knowledge. Based on this,  I feel that it’s important that we educate ourselves about our own health or illnesses instead of passively putting our health and our lives in the hands of other people.

With the internet being as useful as it is and with all the free information sharing online, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t educate ourselves and look for alternatives if we feel what we’re currently doing to medicate ourselves isn’t working.

I’ve always been interested in learning more about natural healthcare, and after reading this book, I’m glad that I decided to educate myself and take control of my own health rather than leaving it to other people.

Of course, in urgent cases and emergencies, there’s often no time to find out what I can do, but at least 9 times out of 10, I can rest easy knowing that there’s something I can do to make it better. I highly recommend reading this book!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

The Beginning of a Book Group

Those of you who’ve been following my blog for a while know that I’ve wanted to be in a reading group for the longest time, so I’m happy to say that I finally got one!

Well, kinda.

It’s only just me and one other guy at the moment, but it’s a start! We’re looking for maybe 3-5 more readers to join us, but while we’re looking, we’re gonna go ahead and start with just the two of us, so I’m really psyched about it! =)

We’re gonna be meeting on the third weekend of every month, and we’ve already got our first two books picked out.

December’s book is Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy, and
January’s book is The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

I can’t wait! The discussions are gonna be great! I hope we get more people joining us soon, but even if not, I’m sure we’ll have fun anyway. =)

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

KOBO Birthday!

My birthday was on October 14, but both DH and I were so busy that we didn’t get a chance to celebrate it in any way at all.

So I barely noticed my birthday passing by, and was very, very happily surprised when the DH gifted me a KOBO on November 5!

He’d mentioned about buying me an e-reader one day, but I’d always assumed that it wouldn’t be until at least a year later since we shouldn’t be splurging now, having just moved to Canada, and since I’ve discovered the library, I’ve got plenty of books to read!

I did show a lot of enthusiasm about getting an e-reader one day though, and I guess DH was smiling inside because he already knew I’d love my present before he even bought it. LOL!

So I *am* thrilled, and I’m loving it so far! It’s got 100 classic ebooks included in it, some of which I’ve read, some of which I’ve been wanting to read, and there are more free downloadable ebooks available online! I also have some PDF ebook files on my computer that I’m planning to transfer over to my KOBO, but I’m not sure if that works yet.

DH said reviews for the KOBO were the best of all the e-readers, but I haven’t had a chance to really play with it just yet. Last week was mid-term week, and I’ve still got a couple of projects to get done, but as soon as I have time, I’ll glue my nose to the KOBO! LOL!

Does anyone else happen to have a KOBO and can give me some tips on how to use it?

Template by:

Free Blog Templates