#Brett walker death full#

IвЂ™m teaching at a university where about every third kid is sniffling and wanting to touch me and I canвЂ™t help but think, all of the time, what is going to be the bacterial or viral exchange that is going to compromise my immune system and make me sick again, because once you remember your body collapsing in the face of an infection, itвЂ™s very hard to go partially down that path and not think youвЂ™re going to go all the way down that path because the feeling is essentially the same. I have never fully trusted my body again.вЂќ Later in the book you write: вЂњIt is disorienting to be a giant compared to your predator and yet completely unable to defend yourself. For somebody that likes to be in control of things, it was a very hard part for me. Oftentimes we donвЂ™t have time to plan, it just sneaks up on you. ThatвЂ™s when you begin to think about all the things you have left undone, all of the relationships that are left unreconciled, all of the things in your life. Paul of some unknown disease that had led to pneumonia. It was really only after over-hearing doctors talking, doctors telling me that it was a good idea to have my family present, doctors beginning to talk to me about end-of-life issues that I began to realize that I was probably going to die in Minneapolis St. Even as my health was getting worse-and maybe part of it had to do with the fact that I was so numbed up with pain killers-I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I was going to die. 'Was I sexually active? Had I had a tattoo recently?' Anything that might have exposed me to HIV or any other kind of immune-compromising disease. They became pretty alarmed and checked me in.ДЄnd thatвЂ™s when I started getting barraged with these questions about my family health history. When I went to the emergency room they ran x-rays of my chest. I was given antibiotics for the pneumonia but they didnвЂ™t work, and I went back to the urgent care and the doctor told me they wouldnвЂ™t re-prescribe those drugs-that I needed to go to the emergency room.

The flu turned into pneumonia I went to an urgent care. When I was travelling in Minnesota I got the flu. I would go to the doctor and get prescribed antibiotics-they would work temporarily, then I would just get sick again. IвЂ™d been getting sick really easily, lots of infections. I was traveling over winter break in Minnesota with a friend, and for about the three previous years IвЂ™d been having health problems. For listeners, can you just describe what happened? For that reason it became a kind of obsession for a couple of years.ДЄnd the book begins in the midst of your own health crisis, where you write: вЂњthinking about my own death was like swimming in room-temperature gravy,вЂќ which struck me. They were asking me questions about my family, and for me, it was interesting because IвЂ™m a historian by training-I teach history-and I could tell you an enormous amount about state building in 17 th century Japan or aspects of world history, but I was unable to tell them anything about my own family. They werenвЂ™t asking me questions about lifestyle, they werenвЂ™t asking questions about symptoms. It was, in the minds of my doctors, the most pressing question that they had. Sarah Aronson: WhatвЂ™s the question you had when you started the book?Д«rett Walker: Do I have a family history of illness? It was a question that was asked to me repeatedly when I was in the hospital.

#Brett walker death full#

The following highlights are from a conversation with Brett Walker about his book, 'A Family History of Illness: Memory as Medicine.' To hear the full converstation, click the link above or subscribe to our podcast. He finds that family legacies shape us both physically and symbolically, forming the root of our identity and values, and he urges us to renew our interest in the past or risk misunderstanding ourselves and the world around us. In his own search, Walker soon realizes that this broader scope is more valuable than a strictly medical family history. A Family History of IllnessВ is a gritty historical memoir that examines the body's immune system and microbial composition as well as the biological and cultural origins of memory and history, offering a startling, fresh way to view the role of history in understanding our physical selves.