e-Patient Dave’s book, Laugh, Sing, and Eat like a Pig, is out! Mark Graban captures the health geek excitement:
The best writers make you feel like you’re spending time with a wise friend — add some tears and laughs and you have Dave’s book. I wasn’t there for his whole journey, so I’m learning new things by reading about the scary, early days of diagnosis and treatment of his Stage IV cancer. And I love the chapter-by-chapter summary of Tom Ferguson’s white paper.
Tom posted only once to this blog — his blog — before he died in 2006 and it was a tribute to The Voice of the Patient. When a group of us decided to complete the white paper and continue the blog in Tom’s honor, Dave was not yet part of the group. Now Dave is not only part of the blog, but helped start the Society for Participatory Medicine and is a central figure in patient empowerment.
Dave dedicates his book to Tom, writing: “I never met you, but you guide me every day.” I bet there are people out in the world who would say the same thing about Dave, thanks to his writing — on blogs, on Twitter, and now in this book. Dave is the embodiment of the voice of the patient. Listen and learn.
I am one of those people who say I’ve learned a lot from Dave’s guidance. I would have to say the word ‘understanding” comes to the forefront. I understand so much better what once just made me angry. Knowledge is power, but understanding is the tool for change. Dave is changing how people think in healthcare, and that is more than powerful. It is awesome.
Hugs….