Our Connected Lives

Choice (ACRL)

“Rahman’s Our Connected Lives masterfully integrates case-study storytelling with the nuances of clinical practice to brilliantly address the humanism we all want in medicine but frequently can’t find in our health care system. The riveting stories illustrate the triumphs of personalized, engaged interaction between patient and caregiver, especially when the cards have dealt potentially bleak outcomes. Additionally, Rahman’s weaving of treatment decision-making facts into the stories is a valuable resource not only for health professionals but also for patients and families…”

The ASCO Post

“In Our Connected Lives: Caring for Cancer Patients in Rural Texas, Dr. Rahman shares the many experiences of a 35-year career in cancer practice, during which time he immersed himself into not just taking care of his patients’ challenging medical needs, but learning from his patients and getting to know their lives, their families, and the circumstances that made each patient unique… Dr. Rahman emphasizes the importance of empathy in patient care, especially in cancer care. In the same vein, he urges nurturing empathy in clinical training by teaching medical humanities. “Empathy helps to build bonds between doctors and patients and lessens patients’ anxiety and distress; in turn, it improves patient satisfaction and clinical outcome,” he noted.”

“Cancer touches countless lives worldwide. As a cancer researcher, I applaud Dr. Rahman’s effort to make cancer biology accessible to everyone in Our Connected Lives. As a physician, I appreciate how his thoughtful stories illuminate the practice of cancer medicine—not just by revealing the struggles patients and doctors face, but also by highlighting the importance of treating patients as people rather than cases. The lessons in this book are instructive for us all: cancer patients and their loved ones, general readers as well as the members of the medical profession.”

“Fazlur Rahman is a wonderful story-teller. I was immediately drawn in by the vivid characters, touched by their plights, and by the author’s depth of compassion.”

“The renowned clinician, Dr. William Osler, considered the “Father of Internal Medicine”, observed: “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” Fazlur Rahman is not only a great physician; this remarkable man is also a wonderful writer. From his humble beginnings in what is now Bangladesh (and for this story I highly recommend his cultural memoir, The Temple Road), and throughout his post-graduate training in internal medicine and oncology in New York and Houston, it took amazing fortitude and faith for Dr. Rahman to find his way to San Angelo, Texas. There he garnered the love and respect of its citizens through his delivery of high quality primary and specialty care over many decades. How he accomplished this is the main thrust of this memoir. Every turn this writer takes—into medical science, the evolution of oncological treatments, the intricacies of doctor-patient-family relationships—serves to enlighten and enhance this story. This physician’s dedicated attentiveness to the daily, then yearly, then career-long practice of patient-centered “connected” medicine is rare in America’s fractured health system today, and we are all the poorer for it. With this book, Dr. Rahman joins the ranks of other great physician writers: Anton Chekhov, William Carlos Williams, Richard Selzer, Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese among others. You will not be able to put this book down. And when the last page is turned, you may wonder where you might find someone like this author to care for you. I know I did.”

“Dr. Fazlur Rahman’s Our Connected Lives: Caring for Cancer Patients in Rural Texas is a must-read, flush with all the richness of human life in the face of illness. In these pages, the cancer doctor walks alongside his patients through the difficult conversations, complex medical decisions, losses and triumphs that cancer brings. Dr. Rahman’s intense empathy for his West Texas patients vivifies these pages, and drives him to provide excellent, diligent, humane care. Any reader who wants to know what cancer is like from the other side—the doctor’s side—will be enlightened to find in Dr. Rahman’s stories a testimony to how deeply doctors care for our patients and indeed how connected we all are, in the end. If you have doubted whether doctors actually care not only for patients but about them as human beings, this book will change you. It shows how the best doctors among us are, and how we all ought to be.”

“The stories of each of these five unforgettable women and men make for powerful reading. These are mesmerizing page-turner tales, making us genuinely concerned about the lives of those individuals with cancer. But their stories are also relevant to other people, whether they have cancer or not.”

“Dr. Rahman takes us on a journey of resilience, love, and empathy. He has the ability to see light when many of us would see only darkness while caring for patients with cancer. This book shows us that not only are we all connected but also we walk together on the path of our lives. Moreover, he teaches us that empathy and hope are the most powerful tools we have to help our patients when they are most vulnerable, and that showing dignity to our patients is an integral part of care. This is a must-read!”