What the Bloggers Are Saying About AfterShock & What Jessie Is Saying on the Blogs

Basil and Spice | Deconstructing The Kennedy Coverage
The talking heads have already buried Teddy Kennedy and are now delivering their eulogies. While on one hand I'm offended by their prematurity — I mean, the guy doesn't even know precisely what kind of tumor he has yet — recognize that this is what the media does.
> Read the 22 May post by Guest Blogger, Jessie Gruman

Basil and Spice | The AfterShock For Kenechi Udeze
Whether you are being treated as a sports hero in a full service hospital like the Mayo Clinic or being cared for by a community doctor in rural Kentucky, you will make choices about tests, doctors and treatments that you never knew existed a week ago.
> Read the 13 February post by Guest Blogger, Jessie Gruman

Basil and Spice | How To Find Help In a Hospital
You are admitted to the hospital. What can you expect? Entering the hospital can be a nerve-wracking experience, basically because we're afraid. Will I get sicker by possibly developing an infection? Can the specialist see me right away? What if the nurse gives me the wrong medicine and I die? Will the treatment hurt?
> Read the 29 November post

Antiobio.tech | Dealing with Bad News from the Doctor
Jessie Gruman, Ph.D., the President of the Center for the Advancement of Health as well as a recent addition to the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Dr. Gruman's new book, AfterShock, ...
> Read the 18 November post

Basil and Spice | A Life-threatening Diagnosis — What to Do
Recently, I posted an article titled "I Hate Cancer," chronicling my father's diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. While still in shock, my family struggled to find answers and a positive supportive doctor.
> Read the 5 October post

Charlie Rose | A conversation with author Jessie Gruman
An amazingly honest and informative exploration of a topic that most of us endeavor to avoid and for that reason are woefully unprepared when the grim news crosses our doctor's lips. Dr. Gruman was brilliantly honest about the limitations of her own pre-conceptions, though they were well-earned, coming from personal experience with 4 episodes of life-threatening illness.
> Read the 24 July post and comments

the Cancer Blog | Finding the right doctor, more from Gruman's book
I recently wrote about Jesse Gruman's book, "Aftershock — What To Do When The Doctor Gives You — Or Someone You Love — A Devastating Diagnosis" as covered by Jane Brody of the NY Times. Brody continues her coverage this week, with more tips from Gruman.
> Read the 14 July Post

Second Opinion | A Life of Helping With Devastating Diagnoses
It got my attention July 3rd when New York Times health reporter Jane E. Brody said: "I consider this book so valuable I plan to keep it on my bedside table should I need it later on." The column, Advice on Dire Diagnoses From a Survivor, highlights important information from AfterShock, the recent book by Jessie Gruman, about what to do when you — or a loved one — receives a devastating diagnosis.
> Read the 10 July post

Writing Doctor's Blog | Out of Here Alive
"Nobody gets out of here alive," say the sages. Most Americans bury this advice in their souls' dark recesses — until that moment when some doctor drops a dread diagnostic bomb. Then, we learn that not getting out of here "alive" means us--not some anonymous "nobody."

We sit there, stunned. The doctor drones on but we can't hear. Questions hammer our brains. What to do? Where to go? What about another opinion? How to tell husbands, wives, lovers, children? How long do we have? Will we suffer? Suffer much? Who will take care of us? Is it worth the fight?

Once our passports to the World of the Well are revoked, Gruman leads us through the wilderness. Outlining every-day reactions, choices, decisions, obstructions, she tracks roads for recognizing symptoms, knowing necessary tests, understanding results, partnering with physicians on treatments. She walks us through the crap table of risk-benefit ratios on cures, remissions, and side-effects.
> Read the 6 July Review

HEALTH'Sass | How much do you want the doc to tell you?
HEALTH'Sass mentioned Jessie Gruman's book After Shock (see Jan 31, post). Now Jessie has an interesting piece in the Washington Post (Feb 6, 2007), concerning the different styles people have in managing their own health care.

We need to gather information and ask questions in this day and age, but she thinks people have different levels of wanting to know — or wanting to know all at once.
> Read the 12 Feb post and comments

Daily Kos | When the Diagnosis Is Scary
It is going to happen to all of us sooner or later. Out of the blue, we will be told by a doctor that we, or a loved one, have some illness that will turn our world upside down. But how many of us are prepared for that, and even if we are, where are the rules for how to cope?
> Read the 16 Jan post and comments

Writing Doctor's Blog | Forthcoming Books
We sit there, stunned. The doctor drones on but we can't hear any more. Questions hammer our brains. What should we do? Where to go from here? What about another opinion? How to tell husbands, wives, lovers, children? What about a boss or a colleague? How long will it be? Will we suffer? Suffer much? Can we take care of ourselves? If not, who will? Is it worth fighting this thing?

AfterShock: What to Do When the Doctor Gives You — or Someone You Love — a Devastating Diagnosis, Jessie Gruman's must-read guide "for reluctant consumers" of every age, provides a road map for what to do now, when we know our bodies have betrayed us. AfterShock is a New Best Friend for figuring out where — and how — to put one foot in front of the other, taking crucial steps after the disease terrorists strike.
> Read the 16 Jan post