Love Is the Strongest Medicine: Notes from a Cancer Doctor on Connection, Creativity, and Compassion

"This book puts music, laughter, and heart front and center, and the results are magical." - Mark Hyman, M.D. In Dr. Steven Eisenberg's oncology practice, the enemy is cancer, but it's also denial, anger, and fear--draining emotions that can interfere with the effectiveness of treatment. Every day, Dr. Steven helps patients fight cancer using both time-tested conventional therapies and innovative medical technologies. At the same time, he helps them overcome negative emotions by cultivating acceptance, love, and self-compassion in a deeply personal way, through laughter, empathy, and the music he plays and sings for and with them. How often do you hear someone say, "I'm alive"? Dr. Steven's patients say it to him all the time, in conversations, texts, and e-mails. Some of these patients are celebrating remissions or cures. Some are getting sicker, with reservations about what tomorrow might bring. But they've had a good day. They are all--we are all--truly and urgently alive. Dr. Steven's book invites us to celebrate this truth, even as it tells a compelling story of a doctor's experience on the front lines of care; offers a road map for bringing humanity back into traditional medical practice; and gives patients, families, and caregivers a blueprint for living each day with hope.