A Medical Cover Up

By Michelle Ciriacruz

Doctor on Call by Dr. Jose S. Pujalte Jr., is one of those ironies of life we see every so often, in this case, a mostly pleasant irony-literary-wise. A doctor, who has had years studying and observing all the possible ways the body could go wrong, reassuring people that things might not be as bad as they seem-but better see your doctor to make sure, because, frankly, we sure don't want to be wrong or neglectful.

    One sometimes gets to thinking that with the multitude of diseases known, unknown, emerging, and inexplicable, a medical professional would soon go paranoid and have a tendency to see mountains instead of molehills.

    Someone with this mindset would surely find it very difficult to relate to people who are more laid-back with their concerns-who would like to be more aware of health concerns and what to do about them, but not to the point where being hypervigilant about it is itself a cause of health problems.

    So it is nice when you come across evidence that such extensive education does not prevent the medical practitioner, who wishes to communicate about health awareness to laymen, from being able to scale down-but not so far down that information suffers-his acuity to a level where the listener will not get intimidated or overwhelmed by too much data.

    That's perhaps explained by the fact that Doctor on Call is a collection of column pieces originaly written for a newspaper of general circulation.

    Although Doctor on Call does educate, it does not do so by pounding a crowd of technical stuff into the readers' brain. It deals with technical matters, yes, but in an everyday conversational voice so, based on its content, it escapes being called a textbook. The book aims to acquaint readers with the symptoms of a variety of common, and a few uncommon, diseases and ailments they might encounter one day or perhaps already be experiencing today. When the reader recognizes these symptoms in himself or in others he will be better prepared as to what to do next.

    In a book review, part of the evaluation rests on whether the writing is appropriate to the tastes and interests of the target readers. I understand that this book is distributed during lay fora and screening program orientations. Then, definitely, Doctor on Call can serve to reinforce the intentions of these meetings. The participants can bring the book home with them-it is quite thin and not bulky at all-where they can have fun reading and learning.

    And fun, they shall have. I haven't met Dr. Pujalte but he seems to have a heavy dose of sense of humor. He was quite liberal with it as one will see in the titles, "O My Gout!," "(No) Bloody Hell!" (menstrual problems), "She tripped and lost her Poise" (ankle injuries), etc. Oddly, his wit seemed to have blanked out with the chapters about Alzheimer's disease, carpal tunnel syndrome, and dislocations-the terms for these medical conditions are the titles.

    Now, the danger with an authority writing for non-fellow experts is that he might come out condescending. I did not feel that in Dr. Pujalte's writing. Although, as I said, his readers are supposed to be mostly laymen, he does not talk to them as if they were dimwits. He expects his readers to be intelligent but appreciative of humor. A chapter that really invites cheeky grins is the one about how to deal with hemorrhoids. He just couldn't resist with the double-meanings. "This is one definite time that someone, preferably a doctor, should look up your anus...that someone should (insist on a doctor) put a gloved, vaselinized finger up your rectum."

    The book works on a middleground principle here, however. Fun, but not too much, because then the readers might not take what is under discussion seriously. In each chapter, Dr. Pujalte lists down preventive measures and treatment options. And while the 31 chapters ranging from familiar complaints such as heart problems, insomnia, scoliosis, bunions, alcoholism, peptic ulcer, cataracts to less familiar ones like whiplash, chronic fatigue syndrome, texter's thumb, and clinical depression do not together make up any noticeable theme, they make up for any lack with their variety.

    But Doctor on Call has an obvious, if not stated, theme; and it is, "prevention is the best remedy." Why else include separate chapters on the ways of karatedo and the joys of walking?

    Anyway, reading the book is like going through a paginated montage. Discussions are only two to three pages long, and, not only is the language conversational, the visuals, simple grey-shaded line art drawings, infuse the entire book with a medley of emotions. When we see the hollow-eyed lady irritated with her inability to sleep, the gloomy woman listening to holiday tunes, the man straining to push something out while in the toilet, and the girl's look of utter surprise as she twists her ankle, we instantly visualize the situations the author is cautioning to us about.

    Dr. Pujalte also accessorizes each chapter with apt quotations, and fact or factoid. The latter is characterized with a few trivia, health tips, and some startling statements like, "The Law of Local Anesthesia: Never say "oops" in the operating room. (Dr. Leo Troy) from The Official Rules and Explanations, Paul Dickson, Ed., 1999."

    Doctor on Call would have made an ideal reading material in hospital and clinic waiting rooms. The conciseness of its chapters is ideal for a few minutes read. It is informative enough for the bare bones to be outlined but not too graphically revealing so as to be a turnoff. Patients or guests could browse through the pages and go to the part that seems interesting. The book could put those who are jittery over their first medical consultations or physical examinations at ease since it has a way of keeping these fearful medical conditions in proper perspective.

    Unfortunately, this might not so easily happen. While those who receive the book are happy enough to be gifted with something and would therefore enjoin to enjoy the book, I wonder if those who just see it lying on a side table somewhere would be enticed to pick it up deliberately. Would the cover make a patient, bored perhaps with waiting for his turn in the consultation room, very likely apprehensive, to immediately want to pick the book up and browse through it?

    The answer shows that Doctor on Call has a major flaw, which their distribution system masks so far.

    Its cover concept is clean; it's okay. But to be deemed excellent, it needs more than that. The lines of seemingly technical terms in the cover creates a wrong first impression. People will assume that it is a textbook. This book needs to be repackaged, if it would seek a bigger role in educating laypeople. It might have promising material inside but if its outside were boring, people would think the inside is boring as well.

    With books, instant appeal is in the bindings that hold it together. As much as we want the world not to judge a book by its covers, the realistic ones among us know that this hardly ever applies to the literal object of the principle.

    Overall, I do not think Doctor on Call has any pretensions to or aspirations for any literary trophy. In any case, doing so is not the point of the whole exercise. Too much intellectual posturing, I am sure, would repel the people who just want or need basic information on what health problems they could be dealing with one day.