Book Review: You Started WHAT After 60?

Before I began reading You Started WHAT After 60? Highpointing Across America by Jane T. Bertrand, I had never heard of highpointing. Not to be confused with mountaineering, highpointing (so says Wikipedia) is the sport of ascending to the point with the highest elevation within a given area (the “highpoint”). Examples include: climbing the highest point of each U.S. state; reaching the highest point of each county within a specific state; and ascending the highest mountain on each continent (the “Seven Summits”). To many armchair travelers or couch potatoes who consider themselves fit, why would anyone want to climb the highest point of each U.S. state? The author herself states she hadn’t slept in a tent or on the ground for 40 years! It seems the author’s family has a grueling tradition of doing something extraordinary on a special birthday.

The year Jane turned 60 was the year she decided to meet the highpointing challenge she had set herself, after considerations of health, and available options should she be unable to meet her first location goal. Planning, organizing, and reading on the topic were just a few of the preparations. Plus, Jane admits to two major weaknesses: lack of technological know-how and poor navigational skills (I know the feeling!). Once the challenge had begun, Jane then decided she had to make up for lost time…

Jane lays out the challenges in a chronological order with the number of the highpoint, location, date, and level of difficulty. Her highpointing adventure was not without health issues (a gammy knee and bunions) and Jane had to work around those. This could all make for dry reading, but Jane has a lovely conversational style, chatty and down to earth, and she mixes in details of family, friends, life events, and activities that took place around the highpointing expeditions. By the time one reaches the end of the book, Jane has become as familiar as a longtime friend and the reader feels part of the family. Photos interspersed in the text also put names to faces and make the book reader-friendly.

While some of the highpoints read like the proverbial pleasant walk in the park, others make the mind boggle, especially if you’re an armchair traveler or a couch potato (as mentioned above). This activity is not for the faint-hearted (bear spray?). When the author says she had to “get serious” about highpointing (which requires reaching the absolute, definitive highpoint, not just “getting close”), one can sense the adrenalin and, perhaps, the obsession kicking in. Jane’s sister Liz happens to be an avid journaler and these details came in very hand when Jane decided to start putting her experiences down on paper.

Jane includes references to other books on highpointing which could be useful to anyone considering taking up this challenge. Each highpoint experience is described in detail and this gives the reader an extraordinary view of the many beautiful places in the U.S., places that many of us would have neither the time nor energy to experience. I am not an avid hiker, mountaineer, or any kind of adrenalin junkie. I don’t think I’d have Jane’s stamina, courage, or confidence to embark upon what could sometimes be incredibly dangerous ventures, should the weather turn bad, for example. However, Jane’s exceptionally detailed, informative, and highly entertaining account is inspiring for many. It can be done. A ‘life experience’ must-read for anyone planning to do something very special as an adventure, and you don’t have to wait for a special occasion or be 60 to do it. Jane’s final reflections on the home stretch are interesting, honest, and illuminating. Read this book, even if you have no intention of climbing anything except the nearest gentle slope.

 

 

About the Author:

Jane T.Bertrand is a professor at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, where she splits her time between teaching in New Orleans and managing research on Tulane's family planning projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  A Maine native, she moved to New Orleans over 40 years ago where she and her husband Bill raised their children, Katy and Jacob. Her recurrent travel to Africa in connection with international family planning work generated many of the frequent flyer miles that made this highpointing pursuit possible.

 

Book Review: Silent Spring, Deadly Autumn of the Vietnam War

For the rest of the world, the Vietnam war is over. For the soldiers who fought in it, no matter what their role, it will never be over. Silent Spring: Deadly Autumn of the Vietnam War is described by author and Vietnam veteran Patrick Hogan as “part memoir, part exposé, and part call to action against the bureaucratic and legislative negligence and indifference that has violated, and continues to violate, the trust of veterans and US citizens as a whole.” Succinct and well put, this is the perfect description of a horrific cover-up, one of the greatest crimes against humanity of the 20th century, and one that, had it happened today, would have been labelled genocide. The author served two years, nine months and 22 days in Vietnam and that was enough to poison his body to the extent that he ended up with a laundry list of ailments. This only manifested 43 years after his service ended, but confirmed Patrick’s conviction that his time in Vietnam and his unbelievable laundry list of illnesses were linked. After all, on many occasions, among the reasons cited by medical experts for his problems were the two chilling words “environmental agents.” And thus began his exhaustive and minutely detailed investigation into the witches’ brew of potentially lethal tactical pesticides which he is sure contributed to the decline in his health and that of many other veterans.

 

Sidelined and pushed from pillar to post, Patrick came up against the stone-walling tactics of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the US government, both of which deny the effects of the toxic chemicals Vietnam veterans were exposed to during the war. The reasonable person wonders why the government and chemical companies did not set about covering medical bills and compensating these men. The answer is simple. Money and greed. The refusal of the DVA and the US administration to accept responsibility is to protect them from international liability and accusations of use of chemical warfare/weapons (which is the case) and to avoid the massive payouts they would be forced to make. This is a shameful indictment of the political administration of the time and the current one, when reparations could, but won’t be made.

I had a vague idea of the Vietnam War when I picked up this book, and of course I had heard of the infamous Agent Orange, a horrifying herbicide and defoliant chemical used to destroy jungle cover for the enemy and any food supplies they might locate there. The US government destroyed millions of acres of South Vietnam jungles. It was an environmental catastrophe beyond any natural disaster ever known. I had never heard of Agent White and the numerous other toxic and deadly concoctions, a chemical poisonous soup, used as pesticides. Vietnam is home to myriad insects, bugs, and critters all carrying their own types of bites, stings and diseases. They had to be exterminated. The problem was that daily exposure to these poisons inevitably altered the molecular structure of the cells of people exposed, but took years, even decades to manifest. This gave the government and the DVA enough wiggle room to claim inconclusive evidence and the fudge the facts and manipulate the statistics.

Despite the horrifying details and chilling statistics contained in this memoir, the author has no moments of self-pity. He includes very detailed research, scientific, chemical and medical information, but all in a very readable, user-friendly style. I felt as if I were sitting with the author and chatting over coffee. He manages to intersperse fact and figures with events in a way that makes it easy to absorb the statistics and the information which is so relevant to his story. Photographs are an added bonus to help the reader visualize the location and the living conditions of the men who served in Vietnam. The facts are thoroughly researched with bibliographic and reference end notes to give credibility to Patrick Hogan’s story, one of tragedy shared by many, many other soldiers who gave their lives in a war that should never have been fought. Very impressive and highly recommended.

The Story of a Heart: Author Susan May

When Susan contacted me about featuring a heart-warming story, I had no idea it was a book about a real heart: her son Nick’s new heart. What an amazing journey this family took in order to give new life to a little boy who was surely doomed.

Susan May’s love affair with books began when she was in the sixth grade and made a bad grade on her report card in math. (She still doesn’t like math.) Not allowed to watch TV for six weeks she filled her extra time with reading. Her first book, Nick’s New Heart about her son’s heart transplant experience is available now. She is currently working on a her fifth romance novel about a strong, rich man and the woman that loves him, a nonfiction about a WWII flight surgeon and another about her summer trip to Europe with her four teenage children. She often speaks to nursing groups, civic groups, and high school health classes about the importance of organ donation. She leads workshops on promotion, rejection, time management, finding the right writer’s conference, collaging and memoir writing. When her head isn’t in a book, hers or someone else’s, Susan is traveling, cross-stitching or watching chick flicks. Visit her at http://www.susancmay.com/.

Nick May was one of the first successful heart transplants in the United States, performed on a one-year-old baby, as told by his mother. Most people associate heart problems with old age. However, many children also suffer serious heart, kidney, eye or other medical problems that once were insurmountable. In the past, infants with the heart defects that Nick once had invariably died. However, with surgical and medical advances, this sad situation has changed, providing not only life for these children, but a good quality of life. The story of Nick is similar to a roller coaster ride without seat belts or safety bars. Here is a true story that is often more dramatic than fiction, as excellent doctors worked together with a caring, intelligent family not just to save a life, but to provide a good life. Great experiences, deeper understanding, hope, love, faith, and steadfast support from friends, relatives, nurses, staff, and doctors have been the result...along with a wonderful book. Author Susan May skillfully weaves a story of strength, ability, determination, faith, teamwork and inspiration in her book, as she recounts the story of her baby Nick and the overwhelming odds he faced. Although his birth at first seemed normal, Nick's worried mother asked, "Is my baby fine?" Her question either went unanswered or was met with a simple, "I do not know. More tests are needed." She did not realize then that the adventure had only begun, as tests revealed that this baby had a catastrophic problem potentially more deadly than cancer. The author describes the brilliant care and dedication of the highly-skilled doctors and staff who were able to turn the life of a dying baby from a tragedy into a triumph. Often touching, sometimes sad and scary, sometimes funny, this story demonstrates the extraordinary results of doctor/family teamwork, positive attitudes, and the needed support of others when a serious medical condition strikes any child.
 
Book Extract:
 
There was a pause in the conversation, and then Dr. Kanter asked, “Susan, are you sitting down?”



“No, but I can be.” I moved to the kitchen table and sat on a chair. Nick reached his hands up to be held from where he crawled on the floor. I situated him in my lap. “I’m sitting now.”


Dr. Kanter calmly asked, “How do you feel about a heart transplant?”


“I think they’re nice things if you need one,” I told him after a full minute. I said the first words that popped into my head. I was being flippant to cover my surprise. He was serious, I knew. We never thought that Nick might be considered for a heart transplant so young, maybe later in his life, but not then.


“I think we need to consider it. Can you and Andy come to the hospital to discuss it?”


“They say it is supposed to snow tomorrow. We’ll be there if it doesn’t,” I said. My mind spun. It required effort to think.


“What are you going to do if it does snow?” he asked.


“I’m going to play in it with my kids.”


I immediately called Andy and asked him to come home early. I only told him it was in regard to Nick, not what Dr. Kanter had asked. Andy was as surprised as I was at this turn of events. We decided that we would hear the doctors out and try not to close our minds to the idea. It did snow that night, so I phoned Dr. Kanter’s office the next afternoon and made plans to meet him two days later.


“Nick will need to have an antibodies test. So come early enough to go to the lab,” Dr. Kanter said. “If he has a high amount of antibodies it will be hard to find a match.”

Nick's New Heart is available on Amazon.