cover image In Search of the Sun Revised Edition

In Search of the Sun Revised Edition

Henrietta Aladjem, Aladjem. Scribner Book Company, $19.95 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-684-18759-4

In a sequel to The Sun Is My Undoing, the 1973 account of her battle against lupus, Aladjem provides, in broader scope, a patient's view of this mysterious disease that affects mostly young women. Her narrative is interspersed with chapters by her physician/coauthor Schur, head of lupus research at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, who discusses the disease and Aladjem's case, as well as the doctor-patient relationship. Despite her long years of illness, Aladjem has married and raised three children and, during her remission, has established the national Lupus Foundation with affiliates abroad to foster research and public awareness of the ailment. The authors offer a synthesis of the diagnosis and management of lupus, which affects a wide range of organs along with the psyche. Research on its still unknown causes has focused on the role of sensitivity to light and certain drugs in triggering attacks. Essential, the authors emphasize, are mutual respect between doctor and patient, and sharing of goals and responsibility for achieving them. (February)