The beginning of Sick Girl...

RETELL:  Sick Girl has been the most interesting book I have ever read in my whole life!  Amy’s life is out of the ordinary...  In the last 12 chapters, she’s gone through many things like her first diagnosis as low blood pressure.  They later discovered Amy’s diagnosis was much more than simple low blood pressure.  Amy got sent to many different cardiologists to later get sent to a few hospitals.  Amy was a really difficult patient at first and didn’t want to cooperate, not even for a simple IV.  Ms. Silverstein also went through many heart biopsies.  These are operations that take off a part of the heart to see its health.  Amy was given several medications to take daily that could help her condition.  Sooner than later, she realized they didn’t do anything other than give her symptoms like blindness and lost of breath.  Amy was desperate to know what was wrong with her heart...  They diagnosed her with cardiomyopathy, heart muscle damage.  The doctor told her she didn’t yet need a heart transplant and might be able to live with the help of her medication.  A few months later, the night before her boyfriend’s University graduation, Amy felt terribly sick...  Her boyfriend Scott brought her to the nearest hospital where he had to witness his girlfriend get electric shocks to get her closest to normal heart rate back.  Amy always had these kinds of attacks.  Day after day, she suffered a great amount of pain.  It was explained to her that she also died once when she was given medication through a tube that was connected to her groin.  After that, she was terrified to stay alone.  Day after day, Amy got tired of living and wanted to die.  She got the news that she’d need a heart transplant.  Scott, her boyfriend also proposed to Amy right before her surgery.  I am now at that part in the book, when she comes out of the surgery room... I can’t wait to read the rest!

RELATE:  This story is extremely difficult to relate to since I never had a problem with my heart and I certainly did not have a heart transplant.  Perhaps, I can relate to the family members that visited her at the hospital often, since my grandfather had leukemia.  I would visit him at the hospital in Toronto about once a week and I saw him suffer through a lot.  I felt extremely bad for him and I wished I could do anything to help him.  He would have seizures and he was never conscious.  I felt powerless towards seeing him die slowly and painfully.  When they took away his life after a few days on life support, I was happy he wouldn’t have to suffer.  I’m sure the visitors of Amy feel the same and can’t handle seeing her suffer.  There isn’t any other way how I could relate to this woman.

REFLECT:  Honestly, this book has been so interesting.  I’ve already read 123 pages and I got my book exactly one week ago.  My book is just a bit short of 300 pages.  I estimate that I might be finished this amazing biography by maximum two weeks!  Wow, I can’t believe I could even read that fast.  This woman was so courageous and I look up to her for that.  She could’ve gave up on life so many times but decided that the people surrounding her were worth the fight.  I also find amazing that her boyfriend proposed to her as if she wasn’t dying.  He believed in her the whole way through her long years of recovery and they are still happily married with one child.