Reviews for If You Hear the Message Three Times, Listen

The average rating for If You Hear the Message Three Times, Listen based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-07-28 00:00:00 Daniel Landau As more and more children survive leukemia, parents, teachers and the medical profession will need to understand and be prepared for the aftermath of the disease. This very readable book, a result of qualitative research, covers 9 survivor stories with diagnosis dating from 1966-1985. Now adults, the survivors reflect on their memories of diagnosis, treatment and living with the consequences of therapy side effects. The author's aim is to illustrate the educational difficulties post treatment and the impact of school (or absence of school) during treatment and later years. Educators need to be added to the medical/parental team as a resource and strength in the child's progression of diagnosis to survival. It is always best to hear first hand from those who go through treatment to potentially make changes for the benefit of the patient. As a pediatric oncology nurse, I have seen the positive effects of the hopefulness and priority of education to hospitalized children. Child life therapy is another bonus offered in larger treatment centers. An additional plus to the book is the various comprehensive appendices regarding bibliotherapy (with age recommendations), video and internet sites for children, bereavement and resources for parents. A glossary of medical terms and explanations of blood tests (which become a new short hand language for families) aids the non-medical reader. Lastly, multiple listings of support organizations for families, financial assistance, transportation needs, clinical trial web sites and bone marrow information complete this terrific book. Any parent, educator (in the course of a 40 year career a teacher can expect to have an average of 4 students with cancer), psychologist, medical social worker, etc. will find this book useful.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-07-04 00:00:00 James Saito Not a typical weight-loss book, which is a good thing. After getting to an all-time high of 703 pounds, and isolating herself from all social interaction, the author has pretty much given up on life. Until she finds a way to reconnect with the people again through the WWW. Compared to society's negative opinions of the morbidly obese, internet friends don't judge on appearance, and Nancy is slowly able to rebuild her self-esteem. Once she starts caring about herself again and finding joy in living, her weight starts to melt away; friends and interaction become more important than stuffing down negative feelings with food. While I wasn't expecting a detailed memoir of her whole life, her background kinda/sorta helps to explain how she got to be so heavy. The loss of the weight is the shortest part of the book, and felt a bit rushed. But Nancy makes some excellent points about how, for many of us, paradoxically, excess weight is not really about the food. It's about how we deal with our emotions: some scream, some drink or use other addictive substances, and some choose food as the vice of choice. Why not? It's always available, and there's a food to fit every mood... She didn't follow a diet plan as she lost weight, and, even now, doesn't freak out if she eats an extra bite of a sweet one day, and feels that life is more enjoyable when we are not obsessing about everything that goes into our mouths. Once the emotions were under control, for her anyway, the food and activity pieces of the puzzle just fell into place. There was the obligatory (for these types of stories!) appearance on Oprah to end the book, but the life story, while interesting in parts, was a bit of a slog to get to the point of the book.