Books that explore quality of life with treatment

The new year is all about change, so here is a change from my usual posts — a book review! I am reading a most excellent book right now, "The Sun Farmer," by Michael McCarthy. This is the true story of Ted Fink, a farmer in northern Illinois, who suffered burns over 93% of his body. He was treated at my hospital, the University of Wisconsin, for over a year. He was in an induced coma for six months. I heard about this book from a health economist who gave my graduate school class some lectures, when the issue of the costs of health care was discussed. The cost of Mr. Fink's care was over $5 million in the end. The book outlines the agonizing decision his wife Rhoda must make right after the accident to try and save her husband, knowing it will be a long and very hard road which may still lead to his death, or to keep him comfortable and allow him to pass right from the beginning. But it also tells the story of his tenacity and perseverance. And the story of the development of the artificial skin which ultimately saved his life (at least for a period of time).

There are many similarities to oncology — the difficult decisions to get challenging treatments to extend life or pursue treatments meant to maximize quality of life. The tremendous costs of some treatments, the political and sometimes frustrating process of bringing new treatments to patients. This is a very well written book, and it reads quickly. You get a sense of who Ted and Rhoda Fink are, and what their journey entailed.

I also came upon an amazing book by a cancer survivor, Chris Ayers, entitled "The Daily Zoo: Keeping the Doctor at Bay with a Drawing a Day." In the process of his recovery from acute myeloid leukemia and treatment with chemotherapy and an autologous stem cell transplant, he set out to draw one animal a day for a full year. The result is this book. His illustrations are breathtaking in their detail. Some of the animals are cartoons, some are realistic, all are a joy to view. My kids and I enjoy going through this book, a few pages at a time. It is a very visual sample of cancer survivorship.