The Language of Cells : Life as Seen under the Microscope

7/25/08 I have just finishd reading The Language of Cells, and am putting the book aside with sadness that this glimpse in the thoughts of a compassionate pathologist has come to an end. I lived with this doctor for the last few days and with his patients. Spencer Nadler uses the language of a poet and through the pages flows his compassion and human understanding of the interrelatedness of the smallest of cells to the complex body of man. There is much the layman can learn from reading this book, how these cell structures support life or herald death. The book begins with a patient viewing her cancer cells on a screen, and she describes them as a painter would a most mysterious landscape. A while later we meet Mehli Mehta, and Dr. Nadler describes the concert this ninety-two year old suffering from heart disease conducts, a micro chip implanted in his chest jolts his heart elctronically when his pulse rate races away from him. In these paragraphs I learned how the stress on the heart of conducting a strenuous symphonic piece, or running a mile, varies physically from the stress created by anguish or sorrow. Though in both scenarios the heart rate may go up to the same unhealthy level, the physical footprint on the heart would look different. There is a remedy for stress. Let me quote Nadler: "If my mind's stress has my heart racing and pulse waves pound my body's shores, I close my eyes and deepen my breath. Transferring the rhythm of my heartbeat into a drumbeat, I let the rhythm of my music begin..." In these words speaks a poet, not a doctor-writer. Nadler is equally eloquent when discussing Sickle Cell Anemia, Alzheimers, Leukemia, Paraplegia and in the last chapter he discusses dying and the acceptance of death by the patient. This book should be read by all who have an ill spouse, child or are ill themselves. It should be read by doctors and caregivers to show over again the great positive influence a kind and understanding doctor will have, so important in our increasingly robotic world.