Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient by Theresa Brown gripped me by the title. The synopsis really gripped me too. I liked the way Theresa was very honest and open about her experiences both as an oncology nurse and as a cancer patient. I was particularly interested she has twin daughters, since I was a twin.

I felt for Theresa as she remembered the circumstances surrounding telling her son and daughters about her cancer, and the fact that her husband was out of town at the time.

I was pleased the ultrasound technician was so supportive. I was as nervous and sad as Theresa in the process of getting her diagnosis.

The structure of the book and writing style was easy to follow.

I found Theresa to be compassionate and observant as well as methodical. Most of the time. but I found her thoughts when her biopsy was not scheduled very dark and not respectful at all. Quite violent. I was shocked.

Theresa has a mostly very philosophical outlook on life and has dealt with the difficult subject matter in the book in a way that made me want to continue once I was past this one part.

I think Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient is an original novel overall, and was an eye-opening journey to be taken on. I liked the way she mentioned the fact that a person is more than a diagnosis, and how medical issues should be respected. I also identified with her desire that the medical staff should have empathy. Empathy, patience and respect are things I value in medical staff too. I liked her recommendations for medical staff and the anecdotes about cancer in the patients she cared for as well as the advances in medicine and some statistics that were dropped in here and there.

Thanks to Theresa Brown and Algonquin Books for my eARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

3.5- 4 stars

Beautiful memoir. Well written and honest. Meaningful in so many ways! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the honor of reading this book .

“Healing" should be read by everyone, those facing a cancer diagnosis and those not. Theresa Brown experiences grief and in that, we see the beauty of Hope in the face of living and what more potentially faces us along this life’s journey. She forces us to look at our own mortality through her honest eyes as a patient.

Healing When A Nurse Becomes a Patient by Theresa Brown

272 Pages
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Release Date: April 12, 2022

Nonfiction, Biographies, Memoirs, Illness, Cancer, Breast Cancer, Health

Theresa is an oncology nurse. Her world is shattered when a lump is found in her breast especially when no one seems to care about her healthcare. She has the advantage of experiencing healthcare from both sides (patient and provider). As a provider, Theresa always took the extra steps to make her patients comfortable and cared for. As a patient, she saw the ugly reality of care. When she needed to schedule a scan but was told the woman already left for the day, or when she was told she needed to wait two weeks for results of a test.

Healthcare is an important aspect in our society. Unfortunately for some people, it is not a career, it is just a job. Theresa obviously had a calling to be a nurse but saw how others only wanted to put in their hours and go home. The book was well written, and I was emotional with her during her journey. On a personal note, I have two granddaughter attending nursing school now and have a friend who went through treatment for breast cancer. This is a great book to read if you know anyone who received treatment for cancer written as only a cancer survivor can write about it.

What an eye-opening book! This gives you a first-hand experience of two sides of the coin: the patient and the nurse. Theresa Brown does an amazing job bringing us close inside of her journey to get the treatments she needs and how she has treated other patients. It’s such a vivid, raw story that shows me close details of what a cancer diagnosis can do to a person. It’s a powerful book that I highly recommend anyone to read.

Beautiful book. I enjoyed reading this book as a medical professional. It hit close to home in many more ways than one.

I am not a nurse but a respiratory therapist who started as a CNA at 15. I have worked on many floors and had different experiences with patients. I could relate to this book so much. On both the patient and the medical professional side, My mom died of cancer when i was 17. and it shifted my perspective at a young age on what it meant to have empathy for every patient, even when I found it difficult to comprehend their situation.

Theresa Brown, RN of many years as an oncology and hospice nurse learns she has cancer. She wants answers but is scared to be labeled a "difficult patient." This book shows both Theresa as an RN and the bumps she faces as a patient with cancer.

I felt the book was authentic and showed how much she learned from being a patient. She acknowledges her wrongs from her previous patients now that she is on the other side of the door she views life differently.

EVERYONE IN THE MEDICAL FIELD should read this book its touching and makes you realize how much more there is to a patient.

Unfortunately I am not able to read and review this book because of the Kindle format.. I hope the publisher will make galleys available in EPUB format.

Thanks to Algonquin and Netgalley for the early copy of this one.

This was an eye opening read to get the perspective of the nurse and learn about her take on the medical industry while she was dealing with being sick. I enjoyed this story.

Wow.

Ever experienced reading a book with expectations that it'll be an emotional one but ended up exceeding the bar with tons of emotional damage.

This is THE book.

Unfortunately, I would believe that the best nurses would be those who have been through a medical experience themselves. I believe this is what Brown was getting at as she wrote her memoir. Prior to being diagnosed with cancer, she was a nurse that cared for cancer patients. As she proceeded through her medical experience, she saw where she may have failed her patients while at the same time letting readers know the medical side of it. I appreciated Brown's honesty throughout.

Along with her own story of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment , Theresa includes her interactions with cancer patients during her years as an oncology nurse . Seeing both perspectives gives so much more depth to this memoir . SHE also highlights some of the gaps in US healthcare system as well as lack of empathy in Healthcare, which makes difficult times even more difficult for patients and their families.

I found the relatively short chapters and writing style made this book fairly easy to read - especially considering the topic

A big thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for the eARC and physical ARC of this poignant memoir.
Healing is a story that I can fully relate to. I work in the medical field as well and found the mixture of Theresa Brown's perspective as a nurse as well as her perspective as a patient to be spot on. I haven't had this exact experience, however having had a close family member with an acute medical diagnosis in my field did the exact same to me. I found myself drained of all medical knowledge in the moment of diagnosis, despite having made the same diagnosis many times myself. Her writing really brings this strange disassociation between your work life and your personal life into perspective.
I also appreciated the honesty and reality that she projects in her writing. This could not have been an easy thing for her to relive in prose but she nailed it.
This is definitely a great book to pick up for those who like memoirs and especially honest medical stories and the difficult journey through the medical system. As if fighting a disease isn't bad enough, you also have to fight the system to obtain the best possible treatment.
I have only positive things to say about this wonderful book and highly recommend it.
#Healing #NetGalley #AlgonquinBooks

Many thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for gifting me both a physical and digital ARC of this important book by Theresa Brown, RN. Today is my stop on the blog tour for this book which published yesterday, 4.12.2022. 5 stars!

Theresa Brown is a Hospice nurse when she finds out that she has breast cancer. While this is a blow for anyone, Theresa's perspective of being on the other side of health care is eye opening. She takes the reader on the journey from the first scary moment through her surgery, treatment and life after cancer.

This is an immensely-readable medical story - I felt like I was sitting with a friend talking about these issues. And as women, way too many of us have experienced these same horrifyingly scary moments, no matter how things turn out in the end. Theresa is open in discussing such a private moment but gives clarity on how important small touches and words can mean to a patient going through such a scary time. Theresa also opens up about her own mistakes and regrets, along with the times that the things she did made such a huge difference in other people's lives. This is a book that you would like to get in the hands of every hospital administrator who is more concerned about dollars than patients. Highly recommended!

Healing
When a Nurse Becomes a Patient
Author: Theresa Brown
Algonquin Books
Genre: biography and memoir

Nurse and author Theresa Brown is very honest and straightforward as she reveals intimate details about her diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. She is to be commended for wanting to share her story in the hopes of making someone else's journey better. Having found her previous book, The Shift, very enlightening, I was anxious to read more of her work.

Brown is a very talented writer, and her knowledge combined with engaging writing style yield a riveting memoir. She gives us insight into experiences in her nursing career, as well as relationships with co-workers and patients. As part of her frankness, she is candid about the frustrations she felt during her work and in her battle with cancer. The book has references to studies about treatment options and methods, along with the importance of compassion, listening, and understanding.

Everyone who has faced cancer in any form has a unique and individualized story. I fully appreciate that Brown chooses to share her account with readers, providing information and hope about breast cancer.

Thank you to Net Galley and Algonquin Books
for the advance reader's copies and opportunity to provide my unbiased review.
 #Healing #NetGalley

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵?

Theresa Brown, an oncologist and a home hospice nurse went in for a follow-up scan on her mammography; it wasn’t the first time she had had a follow-up scan. But this time, she heard the words from the radiologist, “I see a mass.”

Theresa Brown walks us through the initial shock of receiving her breast cancer diagnosis to being her own healthcare advocate and pointing out where our healthcare system is flawed and even just plain failing. This is her journey, and she is not afraid to share her fears, anger, and hopes for better healing.

I appreciated that Brown reflected on her time as a nurse, now looking over from the other side as a patient. She realized just how uncompassionate and discriminatory the medical community could be, even herself, at times. I am very thankful to all healthcare workers, but I think our system is broken and that compassion should always override costs, politics, and opinions.

𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘪𝘳.

Thank you to @algonquinbooks and @theresabrownrn2021 for a spot on tour and a gifted copy.

Wow, this memoir was so touching and inspiring, I am not going to lie, I cried. But it was so good to read. Theresa is also a nurse and when she becomes the patient she goes between stories as a nurse and her experiences, and also what is going on with her now. She also talks about her own mistakes and the issues in our healthcare systems through her own experiences. I am so happy I got the opportunity to read this book. Thank you Netgalley and the publishers as well.

This is an emotional memoir by Theresa Brown who brings us face to face with our health care system. After being diagnosed with cancer, the author's world is turned upside down. She was an oncology and hospice nurse at the time and used to being on the other side of cancer. Her story will give you hope, tears, and also shed light on what is wrong and what could be better in our health systems.

I have really been into reading memoirs and I really enjoyed this one. It felt close to home because my mother went through cancer treatment last year. The book was raw and I cried so many times. Theresa was able to portray what it was like to go from a nurse to the patient.

It gave a unique look at the medical system and how it has failed so many people. I would definitely recommend this book to friends.

Theresa Brown, who proudly carries her RN degree up front, is a rare and precious package: an expert nurse in challenging specialties (cancer and hospice), who has the gift of writing clearly and eloquently about her job, her patients, and often (and necessarily) our healthcare system. Through her previous books and essays in the New York Times, she tells important stories that inform, move, and enlighten. In "Healing," she tells the story of another encounter with cancer — this time as a patient. She discovers that, with all her prior knowledge, she did not actually understand what her patients might have felt, seen, or experienced. When patients fuss about losing their hair or complain about nausea or painful neuropathy caused by chemotherapy, the nurses’ response tends to be “But we saved their lives.” Brown says she chose oncology as her focus because the “science was really interesting,” and by the way, cancer had run rampant through her family. She’s even used to being called back for additional imaging on her own mammograms — no big deal. Then one day, the radiologist says “I see a mass, and it looks ugly.” She is blindsided and does what most women do: cry. The radiologist walks away, and it’s the ultrasound technician who wraps her up in a hug and whispers: “They can fix this.” They can and do, but with a level of inefficiency and lack of compassion that adds enormously to the distress of the process. This lack of compassion is an abiding theme throughout, and while she examines it in some detail, doesn’t seem to have a lot of concrete ideas about how to improve it. The technician’s hug and someone who hands back her hairband which has fallen off are examples. But how much those gestures meant to her!
Brown had a huge advantage over most of us. She works in the system. She knows who’s who and what’s what in the dizzying maze of serious disease care — most of us can’t tell the phlebotomist from the neurosurgeon from the nurse’s aide or the unit clerk when they come trooping through, all in scrubs. Brown has everyone’s email, people’s cell phone numbers. When her scan results are not forthcoming the day she expects them, by God, she uses them. And somehow, someone retrieves her results so she does not have to wait over a holiday weekend like the rest of us do. Yet, in this era of contract workers, electronic medical records that will not spit out anything until all the boxes are checked, when only specific individuals are allowed (and required) to sign off on data… what’s to be done? Her description of trying to get pain medication refilled for a dying young woman in hospice before the cartridge runs out is harrowing: obstructed, diverted, delayed… but finally, somehow, it gets delivered. In a system so broken at so many places on so many levels for so many reasons, just how do we start to fix it? Brown is vigorous and clear on the problems, but vague on how to go from there. But yes, let’s start with desk clerks who protest, “But I leave at four.” Brown gets a “patient satisfaction survey” after the tussle over scan results: she fills it in with a sharp description of her experience… but never tells us if anyone ever followed up. Probably because no one ever does.
Overall, what we have here is a crisp, passionate critique of how the American healthcare system treats patients, as told by an professional within that system who suddenly finds herself on the receiving end. There are other writings by professionals (such as Atul Gawande or the deeply humane Victoria Sweet), and many, many patient-experience memoirs, and I had hoped this book would be a strong synthesis of the two viewpoints. It seems to fall somewhere in between, where the perspectives don’t fully cohere into a rousing call for action to unjam these clashed gears. Pages on bicycle riding and house buying don’t add much; for patients, there is good advice about just how helpful frantically trolling the internet is (or, often, is not) and some useful discussion of the pros and cons of being an "easy" patient or the "squeaky wheel." I cheer for any indictment of the demeaning "pink" and "positive thinking" tropes, but then wonder whether they would put a spray of flowers on the cover of a book about, say, prostate cancer?
The chapters often wander back and forth: the troublesome brain fog she experiences from the radiation therapy doesn’t come up in the chapter on the radiation therapy – she mentions it in passing many pages later. She admits in an opening disclosure that her memory is faulty throughout and she often says she doesn’t have any memory of conversations or events, which begs the question: how reliable is this? There is an arc to the overall book, from diagnosis to recovery, but the chapters stutter and veer. In fact, the book often reads more like a collection of shorter separate essays – like those strong and engaging pieces for the New York Times – each with its own interest and value, but which doesn’t quite assemble into a flowing whole.
Gawande may be more effective in calling the American healthcare system to account; Victoria Sweet also inspires closer attention to healing and compassion therein. But Brown is an essential voice – especially from and for nurses – raised in a call for those same things. As she says: “Modern health care saved me, saved my life, but Theresa the person got lost in the process.” And this is what we still need to hear – and act on.

Another great memoir from a fantastic writer and most likely an even more amazing nurse! I have read two of Theresa’s other books, and loved them both so I was very excited (and also very worried) when I found out that she was working on another book, this time about her own journey as a patient. Theresa is an oncology and hospice nurse who tells the stories of her patients beautifully and with dignity and respect. The details she includes demonstrate her care for her patients as well as her masterful understanding of her nursing practice. In this memoir she ties her nursing experiences in with her experiences as a cancer patient. She takes the reader on an emotional journey throughout the course of her diagnosis, tests and procedures, surgeries, treatment, healing and the ongoing physical and emotional recovery which will continue likely for the rest of her life. Theresa also includes many life lessons and personal details that were less prominent in her other books, I enjoyed learning more about her family and life as well as the medical and health care stories which I loved from the first two books. I also think that the unique perspective of the health care system from someone who has spent significant time on the other side, is a valuable addition to this book which validated patients’ feelings as they navigate a challenging system, often with little understanding of their rights and what they can expect. If you’ve read her other books you should definitely read the latest instalment, and if you haven’t had a chance, but enjoy medical memoirs as much as I do, definitely give this a try! I’m incredibly grateful to have been given the chance to read this book through Netgalley, and with the support of the publisher.