Book Announcement | The Examined Illness: A Philosopher's Confrontation with Deadly Disease

The Examined Illness

Intellect is pleased to share that The Examined Illness: A Philosopher's Confrontation with Deadly Disease, by Darrel Moellendorf, is out in paperback and hardback.

A visceral personal memoir of being seriously unwell – and the consolations of philosophy during sickness. Being a patient is part of being alive. Disease and serious illness often strike randomly, and when they do, we quickly become subject to the impersonal forces of biochemistry and pharmacology. We rarely think about sickness beforehand and are often totally unprepared for it when it happens. Suddenly, there we are, subject to a standard treatment protocol. Darrel Moellendorf learned this by experience during a month confined to a solitary and sterile hospital room where he received a life-saving stem cell transplant. His room was somebody’s workspace, his schedule was somebody’s work routine, his immune system was systematically crushed, and his prognosis was out of his hands. There was no assurance that it would all work out.

Having spent thirty years teaching philosophy to college students, He was facing the biggest test of all—perhaps the final exam. These are his reflections before, during, and after his cancer treatment, written in real time. He writes, “My brain was sometimes addled by the chemotherapy that sapped my energy and destroyed my immune system, but I wrote out of the conviction that living well includes living well with disease, and eventually living well facing death.” This memoir expresses the conviction that the virtues of patience, courage, trust, and hope serve us well. A measure of good humor also can’t hurt.

Part of the Global Health Humanities series.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introductory Note

Part I: Diagnosis
1. First Thoughts and Second Opinions
2. Healthcare for All Pt. 1
3. Patients and Patience
4. Father to Son and Back
5. Give It Up for Lent!

Part II: Inside
6. Day 7: The Countdown Begins
7. Day 6: Carpe Diem
8. Day 5: Vegetarianism Is Not an Option
9. Day 4: Sweatin’ and Shakin’
10. Day 3: Making Decisions When You Can’t Think
11. Day 2: Nausea and Fatigue
12. Day 1: Courage
13. Day 0: Communion
14. Day +1: Confinement
15. Day +2: Waiting and Anxiety
16. Day +3: Relaxed
17. Day +4: Toiling and Spinning
18. Day +5: Healthcare for All Pt. 2
19. Day +6: Patience and Hope?
20. Day +7: A Letter Arrives
21. Day +8: Anaemia
22. Day +9: Why I Write
23. Day +10: Why I Dyed My Hair Blue
24. Day +11: Shorn
25. Day +12: Tired, Itchy, and Hiccupping
26. Day +13: Waiting
27. Day +14: Signs of Progress
28. Day +15: Turn Me Lose, Set Me Free
29. Day +16: Fresh Air
30. Day +17: Postponement

Part III: Recovery
31. Home Sweet Home
32. Home Update
33. The Social Determinants of My Survival
34. Letting the Days Go By
35. A Thread of Good Fortune
36. Magical Thinking
37. Hope Kept Me Eating
38. Sunshine, Suffering, Rebirth, and Freedom
39. Food Aversions
40. Inching Towards Normalcy
41. Human Fatigue and Canine Anxiety
42. Healthcare for All Pt. 3
43. Still Wearing My Helmet
44. Same as It Ever Was
45. Who Is That Masked Man?
46. Inspiration in the Oncology/Haematology Waiting Room
47. With a Little Help from My Friends
48. Springtime on My Face
49. Feeling the Love … and the Likes
50. Disease, Bodily Alienation, and Transhumanism
51. Dem Fingernails
52. Traversing the Rim of the Valley of the Shadow of Death
53. The Examined Illness

Epilogue: Living with Mortality
References

Please visit our website for more information:

www.intellectbooks.com/the-examined-illness

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My source: Georgia Glasspole

Marketing Executive (she/her)

Intellect  | 0117 9589910 | georgia AT intellectbooks.com