To Comfort Always

Coming from a long line of doctors, it seemed natural that Edward Livingston Trudeau would follow in that path. Never did he dream that only shortly after returning from his honeymoon in 1871, he would be diagnosed with tuberculosis.Despite being devastated by the news, he spent the rest of his life in the research and treatment of tuberculosis, establishing the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium at Saranac Lake. His laboratory there was the first in the United States dedicated to a better understanding of the disease.In this intensely interesting, inspiring, and often witty memoir, Dr. Trudeau relates the trials and victories of his professional and personal life. His long marriage was one of the bedrocks of his life.Among his most celebrated patients was author Robert Louis Stevenson, with whom he became friends. He also mentions an evening with Stevenson and Libby Custer (widow of General George Armstrong Custer) that was highly entertaining.As for living a life with illness, Trudeau says:"I have had ample opportunity in the past forty years to get used to illness and suffering; but it took me a long time to learn, imperfectly though it be, that acquiescence is the only way for the tuberculous invalid to conquer fate. To cease to rebel and struggle, and to learn to be content with part of a loaf when one cannot have a whole loaf, though a hard lesson to learn, is good philosophy for the tuberculous invalid, and to his astonishment he often finds that what he considers the half-loaf, when acquiesced in, proves most satisfying."