Review: Run, Don't Walk: The Curious and Courageous Life Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center by Adele Levine

Dear Lit Loves,

Well folks, it's been a rough week.  My dad's Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma has returned for the third time.  We've been fighting this adversary since 2003.  My dad has done CHOP chemo, a stem cell transplant, and now we're attempting Monoclonal Antibody Therapy.  I say "we" because I don't know how anyone would ever get through cancer and its insanity by themselves.  Monoclonal Antibody Therapy includes use of a drug called Adcetris which has two parts.  The first part of the drug targets the CD30+ protein on my dad's cancer cells and the second part of the drug is the chemo agent which then kills the cancer cell.  It should only isolate and target the cancer cells and leave the healthy cells unharmed.

Dad had his first round of therapy on Wednesday.  He's extremely weak, has an incredibly nagging cough, and very little appetite.  He will complete a treatment and then have three weeks off until time for the next round.  Supposedly, this is a miracle drug.  It was only approved four years ago and is specifically for Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma patients who have relapsed after a stem cell transplant.  We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile, to distract myself from my anxiety of nuclear proportions regarding my dad's situation, I read the memoir entitled Run, Don't Walk:  The Curious and Courageous Life Inside Walter Reed Army Medical Center by Adele Levine.  Let me preface this review by saying that after having my manuscript turned down by a literary agent in the same office as Ms. Levine's, it was with great interest that I read this book to determine what type of writing these particular agents are looking for and why this manuscript would be deemed "publishable" while my manuscript was not given the same status. 

Ms. Levine worked as a physical therapist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in D.C. for six years.  Interestingly, she sought out the field of physical therapy not because she felt "called" to do this type of work or wanted to dedicate her life to helping rehabilitate military veterans.  No, she took this position as she will plainly tell you because she wanted work that had better hours and work that she could leave at the end of the day and not take the job home with her.  I have to say that at this point in reading the book I was saying to myself, "Yeah, right.  Good luck with that."  Then I realized that she wasn't kidding.  Those were her only reasons.  In my opinion it certainly didn't work out that way for Ms. Levine.

Lord Have Mercy.  This woman encountered some real characters when it came to physically rehabilitating soldiers who required amputations and who were returning from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan.  She follows several of these fellows throughout their course of treatment at Walter Reed.  The one who proved the most hilarious was named Cosmo.  He had a flair for using the "F" word in every sentence and habitually not showing up for his physical therapy appointments.  The dude even took it upon himself to go tour the White House via bus and by himself.  He wanted to be back on the front lines with his comrades so badly that he became hooked on playing military video games with fellow soldiers on a nonstop basis.  I think it was his way of escape and yet a way to feel like he was still part of the action overseas.  Another soldier the author helped was named Kai and he had witnessed his friend and comrade die when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.  Later in the book he comes across his commanding officer at Walter Reed who suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and the officer never recognizes as being one of the soldiers that was under his command during the roadside bomb event.  Next, there was a soldier named "Pigeon" who was just determined to "get smoked" or obtain an overwhelmingly intense exercise session in during physical therapy that he was physically wasted by the end of the session.  When the physical therapy group moves to conducting therapy in a local pool, Pigeon is finally able to once again exercise and workout to the point of "getting smoked". 

In the midst of all this it appeared to me that Walter Reed Army Medical Center functioned as a display case for the military to show off its muscle, technology, and dedication to rehabilitating wounded troops.  Each day some tour group, celebrity, or military brass parades through to see just what is happening inside Walter Reed.  The other physical therapists are candidly described as well.  When people say that it takes all kinds of people to make the world go round, well, it takes all kinds of physical therapists for Walter Reed Army Medical Center to function and carry the load of working to rehabilitate soldiers with amputated limbs.  The physical therapy staff never has enough computers for all of them to use at once in order to enter their patients' progress reports, and for heaven's sake, just getting a coffee pot boosted morale almost as much as witnessing a soldier learn to expertly walk with amputated limbs.  I don't think anyone became rich working at Walter Reed, but Lord knows, the staff attempted to make it interesting.

Adele Levine herself is a complicated person.  She makes it clear that physical therapy is not her life's mission, but yet she throws herself into her job and clearly is deeply impacted by the wounded soldiers and their injuries and personal stories.  No idea why the author never seemed to provide herself with a fully decorated apartment with decent furniture as she sleeps on an air mattress.  She also seems to have difficulty finding and maintaining stable romantic relationships.  I was able to identify with Ms. Levine when she provided bone marrow to assist in her father's cancer treatment.  She appeared to have a deep respect for him, but he never lived to visit her at Walter Reed which I believe the author deeply regrets. 

Walter Reed was open for one hundred and two years before it was closed.  The physical therapists there either left or were transferred to the new Walter Reed in Baltimore.  Ms. Levine worked at the new Walter Reed for a period of time and then left.  She now has a home, is in a long-term relationship, and has two sons as well as a dog.  This left me thinking, "How? What brought that about?"  I didn't read this book in one sitting.  I put it down and picked it back up to read over the course of about a week.  I thought this was an eye-opening look at what our soldiers encounter after returning to the U.S. following major war wounds and how tiring it must be to work day in and day out with wounded military personnel who have multiple amputations .  I guess what disappointed me most is that I'm not sure the author really understood the value of her experience and she never seemed overly devoted or caring when it came to her work as a physical therapist.  It was like she could take it or leave it.  And I'm only doing this because the hours are better and this job does not involve washing dishes.  I kept thinking, "Don't our wounded soldiers deserve a more devoted and engaged person to care for them?"  Just my thoughts guys.

Till my next read,
Grace