A man. In an eggcup?

    Perhaps it was the title, The Man Who Lived in an Eggcup, that caught my attention or the fact that a physician wrote it, but this collection of essays about doctors and patients and their successes and failures is among the most interesting pieces of nonfiction you can borrow from our library at the moment. Amazon has 10 published reviews of Dr. John Gamel’s book, and each glitters with five stars. Bethel-Tulpehocken is the only system library to own it, so I suggest you get your hands on this book now before other Berks County readers request it and it’s gone for a few weeks.
    If you don’t like stories about illness and injury or hospitals, skip it. It’s not for you. From time to time there’s gory detail, but it’s required to understand the full scope of the patient‘s condition, the challenge facing the doctor and the probability of a happy ending. Squeamish readers, then, might pass.
    All those left standing should make an appointment with this book. Dr. Gamel, a semi-retired ophthalmologist, has written 17 absorbing stories, and each one thrusts you into hospital life so completely you swear there’s a sharp scent of alcohol coming off the pages. His tales take you from the bedside of a dying cancer patient still addicted to cigarettes to a treatment room where cutting-edge laser surgery saves the vision of a teenage diabetic. The book is just as entertaining as House and reminiscent of the old-school medical drama St. Elsewhere. Healing surrounded by heartbreak, sadness, absurdity, joy and humor.
    But let’s get back to the man in the eggcup, essay number one. It’s the story of a man who needed both legs and hips amputated after a massive infection from a decades-old injury. Naturally, there's a more involved backstory, but the end result was that he lived--happily, gratefully-- in an eggcup-chair mounted to a wheelchair. It’s a triumphant story, which includes information about this rare surgery as well as conversations with the patient who pleaded to have his wasted lower limbs removed. “The Man Who Lived in an Eggcup” was perhaps the most bizarre, yet most uplifting story I’ve ever read.
    Essay collections like this one are sometimes overlooked in bookstores and on library shelves because they don’t have the hype of new novels or the publicity machine behind established authors. So I’m doing my part to spread the word. Take it off the shelf, read, and like the docs say, “Call me in the morning.”

The Push From the Book---each book we read leaves its mark and gives you a push: a new way of thinking, a new take on life, new ideas, new goals. Here’s what this book did to me:             
           I’m able to walk, bike, pull weeds, sit at the computer, write an essay, hang out the wash, make a meal, drive myself to work, clean the toilet and bathe. After reading this, I have an even greater appreciation for the basics in life that many cannot perform for themselves because they are too sick. Health, indeed, is the greatest of gifts. And, I’ll try to be a better patient and heed my doctor’s advice. So many of us don’t.