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“[With] humor and radiant courage . . . Silverstein delivers a searing insight into the battle to stay alive.”—Ted Koppel
“Spectacular.”—Mehmet Oz, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon and coauthor of You: The Owner’s Manual
At just twenty-four, Amy Silverstein was your typical type-A law student: smart, driven, and highly competitive. With a budding romance and a heavy academic schedule, Silverstein did not have time for illness—even one that caused her to black out and suffer temporary blindness. When her family doctor suggested her symptoms were due to stress and diet, she was happy to think calm thoughts and eat fistfuls of salt. At such a young age, how could she have guessed that her heart was about to give out? With a grace and force reminiscent of Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face or Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, Silverstein chronicles her harrowing medical journey from first misdiagnosis to astonishing and ongoing recovery, all amidst a romantic bedside courtship with her husband, Scott, and her uncompromising drive to become a mother. Silverstein presents a patient’s perspective that is fierce, provocative, and sometimes controversial, allowing readers to live her nightmare from the inside—an unforgettable experience that is both painfully disturbing and utterly compelling.
“Spectacular.”—Mehmet Oz, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon and coauthor of You: The Owner’s Manual
At just twenty-four, Amy Silverstein was your typical type-A law student: smart, driven, and highly competitive. With a budding romance and a heavy academic schedule, Silverstein did not have time for illness—even one that caused her to black out and suffer temporary blindness. When her family doctor suggested her symptoms were due to stress and diet, she was happy to think calm thoughts and eat fistfuls of salt. At such a young age, how could she have guessed that her heart was about to give out? With a grace and force reminiscent of Lucy Grealy’s Autobiography of a Face or Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted, Silverstein chronicles her harrowing medical journey from first misdiagnosis to astonishing and ongoing recovery, all amidst a romantic bedside courtship with her husband, Scott, and her uncompromising drive to become a mother. Silverstein presents a patient’s perspective that is fierce, provocative, and sometimes controversial, allowing readers to live her nightmare from the inside—an unforgettable experience that is both painfully disturbing and utterly compelling.
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By W. Burghart (Cedar Rapids,, IA United States)
As an open heart surgery patient myself, I found Amy to be an especially well spoken advocate for those of us who perhaps placed too much trust in medicine. Just fixing a heart problem is not the end of treating the underlying issue, and this book helped to open my eyes to that fact. What an amazing and honest life story she shares with us. A truly wonderful telling of an absolutely horrifying experience.
By J. Martin (New York)
Brava, Amy! Unless one has experienced organ transplantation, one may not be able to appreciate the
candor the author has shown and the personal pain she must have gone through to set such
memories down on paper. Almost two years ago I underwent a bi-lateral lung transplant at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, the superb facility where the author's transplant took place many years ago. Months after my prolonged hospital stay--after being the poster girl for side effects--I experienced the same societal pressure as the author to give 'the illusion of health,' the same feeling from friends and loved ones that 'now that you've had the transplant, you can get on with your life and stop holding back the rest of us.' There have been many times that I have wanted to throw up my hands and cry 'no more,' but always I manage somehow to persevere. With a transplantation, a patient exchanges one set of life-threatening problems for another. And as the author detailed, they are never-ending. Those around you--although they provide essential love and support--cannot comprehend living with such all encompassing health problems. But Amy is not only alive, she has found in writing a way to thrive despite the physical and emotional pain, and I take heart from her.
By Mark Prindle (NYC)
The only way this book can be viewed as helpful or compelling is if it is read as a window into the thought processes of someone who has borderline or narcissistic personality disorder. As several other reviewers noted, the tone is consistently whiny and self-absorbed, with no appreciation of the monumental efforts of her transplant team or freinds and family.
Ms. Silverstein clearly lives in a world where facts and logic are subordinate to feelings: even though she could have produced an insightful narrative about the process of living with a medical "miracle" that has unrecognized adverse impact on quality of life, the book remains mired in self-pity and stubbornness.
By poemperson (Rhode Island)
First, Ms. Silverstein IS grateful for the heart and the new life she's been given and she makes that quite clear in _Sick Girl_, so I'm puzzled by the reviews here which state that she's not thankful. The book is realistic: though she's grateful to the donor and the donor's family and to the doctors and nurses who treat her with compassion and dignity, she's frustrated with those doctors and nurses who have no time to see her as a human being with unique emotional needs. And there are many of them. This sounds right to me. Having helped my father through his eight year battle with a lung cancer AND my mother during 17 years of survival after a debilitating stroke, I know the extraordinarily demoralizing effect of a callous doctor on a patient and that patient's family.
What stands out for me about _Sick Girl_ is how well-written and therefore how striking and vivid Ms. Silverstein's book is. I do not look at my mother's disabilities, which leave her with a stilted posture and chronic leg and back pain, in the way that I once did. I think, instead, of Amy's husband Scott who responds with love and patience. If we're lucky enough to live with minimal or no pain, we don't know what it's like to be continually ill, constantly exhausted, endlessly stressed, and always afraid. It must be frustrating, to say the very least. And yes, Ms. Silverstein tells us many times, it's very guilt-producing. Much like Amy, who often feels she should be "strong" and "upbeat," my Mom's always saying "I don't want to be your burden."
I've never thought of her as a burden. But thanks to Amy Silverstein, I have a little glimpse of what must be my Mom's world of pain, fear and frustration, and I want to thank Ms. Silverstein for that.
By Brian Myerson
I am a transplant recipient of ten years and I hope Ami is able to reflect how LUCKY she has been. To have had such a loving dedicated husband is the most essential ingredient for coping with her journey. I think he should write his storey. I would love to read it.
A great book for anyone going through chronic health problems. I related to so much of her feelings.
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