Love Is the Strongest Medicine: Notes from a Cancer Doctor on Connection, Creativity, and Compassion

by Dr. Steven Eisenberg

"This book puts music, laughter, and heart front and center, and the results are magical."- Mark Hyman, M.D.In Dr. Steven Eisenberg's oncology practice, the enemy is cancer, but it's also denial, anger, and fear--draining emotions that can interfere with the effectiveness of treatment. Every day, Dr. Steven helps patients fight cancer using both time-tested conventional therapies and innovative medical technologies. At the same time, he helps them overcome negative emotions by cultivating acceptance, love, and self-compassion in a deeply personal way, through laughter, empathy, and the music he plays and sings for and with them.How often do you hear someone say, "I'm alive"? Dr. Steven's patients say it to him all the time, in conversations, texts, and e-mails. Some of these patients are celebrating remissions or cures. Some are getting sicker, with reservations about what tomorrow might bring. But they've had a good day. They are all--we are all--truly and urgently alive. Dr. Steven's book invites us to celebrate this truth, even as it tells a compelling story of a doctor's experience on the front lines of care; offers a road map for bringing humanity back into traditional medical practice; and gives patients, families, and caregivers a blueprint for living each day with hope.

Genres: Medicine

193 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 25, 2021

About the author

hoo.be/drsteven

Reviews

[Rob Cardenas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so powerful & moving - an absolute must-read. 💯

[Brandon Zamora · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always a good feeling to finish a book. I have been in a bit of a rut as a reader recently, but gladly found myself enjoying this book and being able to finish it. I attribute finishing this book to the fact that despite the generally hard topic of cancer and its grim realities, the author and contents of "Love is the Strongest Medicine" made the book lighthearted and full of themes of love. The book was a very easy read and not too long.
I found some things that I did not enjoy about the book, which I wanted to begin with before I end on a high note of things that I did enjoy. Firstly, I found the middle parts of the book to get slightly repetitive in that a chapter would be about a single patient and the way that the doctor-patient relationship played out, typically in a style of "this is what the patient taught me." There were connecting themes and developments between chapters, but it got to the point where we as the readers were reading back to back stories about patients in an almost laundry list format. Thankfully, these chapters weren't that long. The other thing that I did not particularly enjoy about this book was that despite this book appearing as non-fiction, the contents sometimes had dialogue that made me question how accurately it was being replicated, without this ever being mentioned. I know this is a petty thing, but I could almost sense a bit of sugar coating or oiling of the dialogue to make it more "lovey" and fit that overarching theme. This ties into another grievance which is that the book sometimes had cliché themes or statements of love that watered down the meaning and weight that some things held. For example, the author would tell a story and then throw in a loosely related theme or general idea/lesson. I think things could have connected a bit better, but these things weren't particularly hard to ignore or look past.
Now on to the better things about this book. I did think that having song titles as chapter names was a very cheesy but sweet thing. I also liked the poems under the titles. They were something that I began to get used to and look forward to thinking about at the beginning of every chapter. To separate sections of the story, the author would use these hearts to section the book, which I found very cute. The book had a lot of allusions to and themes of music. I enjoyed hearing the stories about music and also looking up the songs as they were mentioned. A lot of the songs were more rock or singer-songwriter, but I liked that they tied into the themes of love or healing. I did think that the harder topic regarding cancer made me enjoy the book more. I think that is simply something that I as a reader gravitate towards, as I generally appreciate learning about and leaning into "the taboo" or hard topics in an educational and kind manner. I know that cancer is a very real reality, as well as death, that many people would rather not talk about. I think that there are many lessons to be learned by informing oneself of these things though, that one might not get many places elsewhere. The final chapter of the book seemed to throw all of the different topics and contents of the book into a single area, and with a plethora of information that almost came as a shock compared to some of the "out there" and bare-bone chapters midway through the book.
Some things that I wanted to highlight and take out of the book to bring into this review:
Page 170 has a section on accepting fear and giving it the time of day to hold center stage of one's mind. I particularly liked the part, "During those minutes every day, she's write a letter. Sometimes these letters were for friends and family, just in case she did eventually get sick again." This is not related to this book, but I also like the "fear is the mind-killer" quote from the Dune series, and these seem to be general pieces of wisdom that I have been enjoying and gravitating towards at this current moment in my life. Writing is also another big theme in my life currently.
There were general pieces of advice that for me as a reader were helpful, even though I am not going through a cancer diagnosis or know anyone who is. Some of those were to feel your feelings, take moments to breathe, journal, create, lean on friends and family, cultivate good health through healthy practices, and believe in something larger than yourself.
"That talent for recalibrating during and after trauma is integral to our ability to fully heal. It's also the impetus for some of our greatest accomplishments - things like forgiveness and intimacy, art and music" (page 168).
I think in general I took away the idea that life can be lived despite it's hard parts, and that the hard parts can be sources of great growth and discovery. Maybe even that life can be lived in addition to it's hard parts.
Cheers

[Sherry Kachanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt

Finally a book that says it, Love is what heals! I enjoyed how the author connected with people, especially his patients. As well as his willingness to think out of the box. He is a blessing to his patients as they are for him.

[Grace R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this was an decent book. I liked certain aspects of it, and the stories were very well written. I enjoyed the emphasis it put on forming connections with your patients, but it still highlighted the importance of self-care for healthcare workers. There are so many heartbreaking things people see in their lives, but that should not be what we focus on. We should focus on those beautiful moments of humanity. Those moments that are raw and real. We see true kindness, laughter, and just the immense love between people and should remind ourselves how beautiful that is. The one thing I wish we saw a little more of was more of the heartbreaking stories that may not end happily, as I feel like those can teach us so much too, but I completely respect that those may have been hard to talk about/he may not have been legally able to. Also, I still standby the fact that the title of this book is very, very cringy.

[Valérie Bleue · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est très inspirant et touchant! Les histoires tournent autour du cancer, mais ça pourrait s'appliquer à d'autres maladies qui ont un gros impact dans nos vies et celles de notre entourage.