you Don't Have
To Go Downtown to

Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock
Holmes) to Jerome Groopman, best
selling author of A Measure of Our
Days and Second Opinions.
Weisman's book, published in
June, has received some excellent
reviews.
Detroit Free Press reviewer Marta
Salif wrote: "Weisman has the rare
gift of being able to mix poetry and
pragmatism."
And critic Cathy Lubenski of the
San Diego Union Tribune called As I
Live and Breathe a "gorgeously writ-
ten primer for anyone who has ever
been (or ever will be) a patient."
Weisman's book also has been fea-
tured in 0, the Oprah magazine, and
won an Elle magazine readers prize.
Evan Weisman believes his daugh-
ter's book should be required reading
for anyone interested in the bioethics
of medicine. "I'm very proud of her,"
he said. "The book deals with so
many of the [pertinent] issues in
medicine that people don't often
think about, such as access to health
care, the worth of human life and
the organization of medicine."
There is no question Weisman's
experiences as a patient have shaped
the kind of physician she is and hopes
to be. "I can take my experience and
turn it around," Weisman said. "I can
treat my patients the way I would
want to be treated. Having been a
patient really does improve the way I
interact with my patients."
Cunningham-Rundles has a slightly
different take.
"It's so simple to say her illness has
made her compassionate, but Jamie
has always had such a different take on
life," she said. "Her approach to every-
thing has always been to look at it in a
poetic and open-minded way. She's a
pretty unique person."
If coping with her illness has had a
role in shaping her, Weisman also has
been influenced by her own physi-
cians, including Cunningham-Rundles
and Atlanta surgeon Gerald Gussack.
When Weisman was in her early
20s, she suffered a series of infections
in one of her parotid glands — the
largest salivary glands in the body —
that left her with a huge disfiguring
lump on the left side of her face.
"In Grand Central Station, a child
pointed at me," she writes, and a tick-
et-seller "took a step back and asked if
I had the mumps."
No one would take a chance on
removing the lump because they
feared nerve damage that could have
left Weisman with facial paralysis.
Then Weisman found Gussack, a

,

,,,,ammonomor a - imr9

s

I.,

Get the Zi

E

„aBREATHE

"Tops on my list...
their Filet Mignon"

"The best Pizza
in Metro Detroit"

John Tanasychuk, Detroit Free Press. Januwy 8th, 1999

• Pasta Specialties • Pizza
• Steaks' Chops • Poultry
• Seafood • Cocktails

npirse 01 at pet

nt—tlisehr

.1: Ni IC WEISMAN.

611601 1 181 1 1 1 1 1 1 1114110111

T1.

OPEN DAILY - LUNCH & DINNER

OPEN WEEKDAYS UNTIL 2:00 AM

11111111•NallaiailenbalerfilaNIMIONIAININI

"With our greater. knowledge of
disease," Weisman writes, our
obscure vocabulary, our neutral
talk of life and death, it is easy
for doctors to appear omniscient
and omnipotent, rather than the
common human beings we are, -
complete with desires, regrets,
fears and conflicts."

compassionate young head and neck
surgeon who was confident and compe-
tent enough to successfully perform the
surgery that gave Weisman her face back
— albeit with a slightly crooked smile.
Sadly, while Weisman was in med-
ical school, Gussack died of a brain
tumor she describes as "an atomic
bomb of cancer cells that does not so
much grow as explode." His death left
her with the feeling that she had cho-
sen "a profession doomed to a beauti-
ful; honorable failure."
When Weisman read her book recent-
ly at a Borders in Atlanta, Gussack's
widow and parents were there.
"His parents were sitting in the
front row, and I was really reading to
them," she said. "I'd never had a
chance to tell them how much their
son meant to me."
Despite the frightening prospect
that she might one day develop cancer,
Weisman •chose to begin her intern-
ship in the leukemia and bone marrow
transplant units. She says she felt
drawn to these patients because she
often meets them when she is receiv-
ing her own treatments at the hospital.

WEEKENDS UNTIL 3:30 AM

rininfirwri

C OM O S

Woodward at 9 Mile • (248) 548-5005

JIBINADLI 50°")

FAMILY DINING

OFF

•
22921
NORTHWESTERN HWY.

(Corner of 12 Mile Rd.)

ANY ENTREE

Southfield

"I really loved those months [on the
unit]," Weisman writes, "because
something I learned as a patient is
even when there's nothing to offer —

WISE

Ens on page 87

WITH PURCHASE
OF ANOTHER
ENTREE
EQUAL OR
GREATER VALUE

MON. THROUGH
THURS. AFTER 3 P.M.

Not Good With Any Other Specials
or Discounts

(2483 358-2353

Expires 9/30/02

,*(94e#-/- 0e___

KOMANOFS
74 Orig.:gat a rite Ecal

Pizza • Catering • Carry-Out • Delivery

Happy & Healthy
New Year to all
our customers!

LLAR SUSHI!

248-626-4888

PER PIECE •

EVERY SATURDAY
_____ 4 PM
(248) 426-0203

Customer Appreciation Coupon

Pizza • Chicken • Ribs
Pastas • Lasagna • Subs • Salads
Hot Wings • Chicken Strips

cc

15%
OFF
Your Next Order

PICKUP ONLY • MAXIMUM DISCOUNT 510

Expires 9/30/02

1 4

00

Open 7 days a week after 4:00pm • Catering Anytime!

Being There

Italian-American
Family Restaurant

22030 Farmington Rd.

go

(at 9 Mile Rd.)

9 Mile Rd.

ta -

u .

X

DINE IN OR TAKE OUT

8/30

Oi Monday - Saturday 11-9:30 • Sunday 4 9

-

574740

2002

81