One Patient, One Doctor, One Year
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It had rained the first week in April that year, and though the reappearance
of the sun raised the temperature to only forty-five New England degrees, it
made me hopeful again. My new patient sat on her black Converse high-tops,
her legs tucked under, as if she was trying to keep herself from running
away. She appeared to be in her late twenties and was wearing a loose gray
sweater over a pink and green polka-dot blouse. With her chin tipped into
her collar, eyes toward the floor, she appeared shy, or embarrassed. She was
tall but slight and had rolled up her sleeves to the elbows.
"I'm here for your program," she said. "You still have openings, right?" Her
soft voice gave me an impression of politeness. Sixty minutes isn't enough
time to learn a patient's complicated history so I was happy to start at a
gallop. I was grateful she required no transition from the general
cheerfulness of just meeting each other to the serious conversation, filled
with effort and nervousness and specifics, that would constitute the rest of
the hour. The answer to her first question was a simple yes or no.
"Yes, I do," I answered, as if we were getting married, which in some sense,
we were; from that moment forward, our time together would, like any pair's,
get snagged on expectations, hopes, and fears, mixed with promise and
excitement.
My exam room also serves as my office in the hospital clinic. At the far
end, just past the examining table, is a large window with a fifth-floor
view of the neighborhood and the two multifamily triple-deckers whose owners
seem determined to hold on despite the encroachment of hospital buildings
and parking lots. This window gives the room an unusual brightness every
season, particularly on spring mornings. My new patient had chosen the metal
chair whose bent rods and plain plastic seat and back offered, really, just
the ideogram of a chair. This uncomfortable seat does not give the exam room
a sense of well-being. I'd recently thought of bringing in a chair from
home, my mother's old chair, which my wife had reupholstered in maroon
velvet for my birthday. But I hadn't gotten around to it. On the wall behind
the patient's chair is a large photograph of vines that my brother-inlaw, an
artist, had computer-manipulated into the shape of a man kneeling. There are
books on the shelves above my desk-textbooks about renal and heart disease,
dermatology primers with pictures of common eruptions, guidebooks for how to
examine the knee and the shoulder-but I have no pictures of my children
under glass, no diplomas in thin black frames on the walls; I've never liked
that.
From the book THE ADDICT: One Patient, One Doctor, One Year by Michael
Stein. Copyright (c) 2009 by Michael Stein. Reprinted by permission of
William Morrow, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Lifting the veil on the all-too-secret world of prescription-drug addiction, Michael Stein’s The Addict is the heartrending story of “Lucy,” a young woman whose life has spiraled out of control due to her compulsive desire for that next little pill.
The first time Dr. Stein meets Lucy, it’s a sunny morning in April and she tells him she’s interested in his drug-treatment program. What unfurls over the course of the next year is a brutal onslaught of treatments and relapses. It’s an unforgettable portayal of one woman living on the brink but determined to take control of her life.
Not only is this the tale of a woman battling her demons, it’s also a deeply personal account of a doctor on the front lines of an epidemic. He writes beautifully of the particular decisions doctors must make when treating drug addiction, and his insights challenge everything we think we know about addiction. He urges those in the healthcare profession to treat the disease with the same attitude as one treats diabetes or high blood pressure. Whether or not you’ve ever struggled with chemical dependence, you’ll find this is a wholly engaging look at the intimate relationship between a doctor and his patient.
Softcover: 288 pages
Publisher: William Morrow & Co./Imp. of Harcourt ( April 01, 2009 )
Item #: 82-9376
ISBN: 9781615236879
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.65 inches
Product Weight: 10.0 ounces

Maria, i know that pain you are going through and yes it is tough. it took me 4 years to finally succome to my demons and it is a HARD road and scary, honestly the only one who you can worry about is yourself. I hope this book will help you through your struggle, i also hope it will help me remind myself were i never want to be again, i will have 1 year on sept 1st, it can only go up. I dout you may even read this, but if you happen to keep an open mind, and no matter what you do build a support system( either through.. NA, AA, rehab facilities, anywhere where you can find others like you who also are battling the same battle.) and do not forget that it is lifelong, and it is an illness just like cancer, and it can't be done alone or overnight.
Reviewer: K.s
Before I tell you this is the best book I have read in years I must first tell you I am a recovering addict/alcoholic w/bipolar disorder (I felt I must reveal this in order for you to get where I'm coming from). If you do not suffer from some form of addiction or are not close to someone suffering from addiction you may not get the same experience I did when when reading this book.
The book is written by an doctor of Internal medicine who, in addition to his regular practice treats opiate addicts with buprenorphine (it's like methadone for heroine addicts). He kept a notes (as any good doctor will do), changed the names of his patients, focused the book primarily on one, Lucy, and wrote a great book.
The book was easy to read. Not easy as in simplistic, easy as in fluid and hit home in unbelievable ways. I had to start highlighting the passages that hit home there were so many, it was like a form of therapy, hence my opening revealations. I couldn't put the book down and started limiting how many pages I could read in a day so it wouldn't end. When it was over it took me nearly a week and attempts at reading four other books before I could find one that could measure up to this book. It was great.
Reviewer: campingmomma
I am clean over 17 yrs and it is a good reminder of my 5 yr struggle to get clean . I know how hard that struggle with addiction can be ,I have buried a friend who couldn"t get clean, and stay clean ,which was a sad time for his family and our friends.After my read I will give it to his grown daughters so maybe they can understand his struggles, and forgive him for leaving so soon.
Reviewer: joseph c
Maria, please get help for your problem. Don't worry about what other people in your life think. The people in your life who matter want you to be happy and healthy. Do it for them, but do it for you first of all. Someone I know recently died from prescription drug addiction and another close person is in jail because of it. When you are ready to quit, you can do it!
Reviewer: Jeanne
It usually takes me awhile to read a book since I have such a busy schedule but I HAVE to read this one, since I have been struggling just like the character Lucy in this story with my own personal bout with prescription drug addiction, every single day I think about how I got to this point, and how I can get out of what seems like an endless cycle, but I honestly yearn to get clean. I do not want to disrupt the lives of others to do it, meaning I do not want to tell the ones closest to me about my problem since they will probably ditch me since one of them said if I didnt get clean that was it. When I wake up in the morning, if I dont have a pain pill, I sleep through most of the day, I'm just tired of living this way. I pray to God this book changes my life
Reviewer: Maria