The Baffling Medical Disease
Book Description
In the summer of 2015, Ross Douthat was moving his family, with two young daughters and a pregnant wife, from Washington, D.C., to a sprawling farmhouse in a picturesque Connecticut town when he acquired a mysterious and devastating sickness. It left him sleepless, crippled, wracked with pain–a shell of himself. After months of seeing doctors and descending deeper into a physical inferno, he discovered that he had a disease which according to CDC definitions does not actually exist: the chronic form of Lyme disease, a hotly contested condition that devastates the lives of tens of thousands of people but has no official recognition–and no medically approved cure.
From a rural dream house that now felt like a prison, Douthat’s search for help takes him off the map of official medicine, into territory where cranks and conspiracies abound and patients are forced to take control of their own treatment and experiment on themselves. Slowly, against his instincts and assumptions, he realizes that many of the cranks and weirdos are right, that many supposed “hypochondriacs” are victims of an indifferent medical establishment, and that all kinds of unexpected experiences and revelations lurk beneath the surface of normal existence, in the places underneath.
The Deep Places is a story about what happens when you are terribly sick and realize that even the doctors who are willing to treat you can only do so much. Along the way, Douthat describes his struggle back toward health with wit and candor, portraying sickness as the most terrible of gifts. It teaches you to appreciate the grace of ordinary life by taking that life away from you. It reveals the deep strangeness of the world, the possibility that the reasonable people might be wrong, and the necessity of figuring out things for yourself. And it proves, day by dreadful day, that you are stronger than you ever imagined, and that even in the depths there is always hope.
Details
- Rating: ☆☆☆☆
- Title: The Deep Places
- Author: Ross Douthat
- Genre: Memoir & Biography
- Length: 224 pages
- Publisher: Convergent Books
- Release Date: October 26, 2021
My Thoughts
Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, famously said: “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” As I read Douthat’s book, this saying kept coming to mind. Could anything else happen to this family? It felt like one blow after another.
Ross and his wife, science writer Abigail make the decision to move away from the crowded Washington, DC area to a property in Connecticut. Ross had been longing for a small portion of land and a larger home since he visualized these things as perfect for raising a family. So when an older, much older, house on some property is located at a wonderful price, he and his wife jump at the opportunity. At last country living. Something that will be relaxing and good for their children.
But will everything work as they planned? Unfortunately, not so much.
This book captured my attention very quickly and had no trouble keeping me turning pages. As might be expected since Douthat is a columnist for the New York Times, the writing flows. Though the book chronicles a mix of medical information and memoir, the two blend seamlessly.
What Concerned Me
While this didn’t concern me since I love learning anything medically related, this memoir has more medical information than most. I think most readers will want to know the facts provided in the book, but I’m just noting what makes this story a little different than some memoirs.
Final Thoughts
I’m so glad I had the opportunity to read this. And even if you think you’re not interested in Lyme’s Disease, I think you’ll still want to read it. This story is enlightening and the information important.
I feel since Ross Douthat is still kickin’ that he has been made a stronger man by all that he has experienced. (Though he no doubt would be content with maintaining a weaker status, I felt it necessary to tie the ending in with the earlier quote.)
Thumbs up. If you like medical-related memoirs, definitely reach for this book.
Though this book was gifted to me, I was completely free to post my opinion if I wrote a review.
Rating: 4 stars ☆☆☆☆
About Ross Douthat
from the New York Times
Ross Douthat joined The New York Times as an Op-Ed columnist in April 2009. His column appears every Tuesday and Sunday, and he co-hosts the Times Op-Ed podcast, “The Argument.” Previously, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic and a blogger on its website.
He is the author of “The Decadent Society,” forthcoming in March 2020. His other books include “To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism,” published in 2018, “Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics” (2012), “Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class” (2005), and a co-author, with Reihan Salam, of “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream” (2008). He is the film critic for National Review.
He lives with his wife and three children in New Haven.
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