The excerpt chapter this month attempts to get to
grips with the AIDS epidemic that currently is killing a staggering
600-800 South Africans per day. The reasons why South Africa has
been affected so badly are complex, but much of the blame must lie
at the door of the government of President Thabo Mbeki and his
appointed Minister of Health, mockingly known at AIDS congresses as
Dr Beetroot.
Dr Preston takes the controversial view that, in a
country where the disease is rampant, a person's HIV status should
be notifiable.
Chapter 1 finds a totally
demoralized and depressed Dr Preston planning to leave his chosen
profession as chiropractor but he finds himself up against ‘she who
must be obeyed’. Helen has sacrificed much to support him during the
long of years of training in America. The good wife knows when not
to accept ‘no’ for an answer.
A humble bat enters his life …
and Preston saves a man’s life.
As chairman of his local branch of
chiropractors Dr Preston faces a difficult confrontation with a
colleague who refuses to meet up to the standards demanded by their
profession.
The book, not unlike its predecessor,
Frog in my
Throat, gives insights into the intimate relationship
that exists between patients and their doctors worldwide. A lady who
adopts him as her surrogate daughter to fill the gap left by her
deceased loved one, born on the same day as Dr Preston. Preston
finds himself thinking of himself as the daughter’s twin. A man who is
controlled by a domineering wife, and how both wife and husband find
a new lease of life in Preston’s soaring club. A bishop who is
nearly driven to his deathbed by thieves who rob his beehives, and his wife of 49 who
finds herself pregnant …. A patient with a huge aneurism – what does
Dr Preston think: should he have a dangerous operation, or take his
chances and not have it?
Dr Preston has an intense interest in
ergonomics, and finds himself considering why airline travel is so
harmful to his patients. He notes that the airline company of the
future that first enables their passengers to … will be the company
of the future.
Dr Preston makes an epic voyage of 150 km in
his ancient wooden glider – and needs the services of a chiropractor
after being thoroughly baptized by his mates from the club in a
nearby dam.
The book ends with an offer to spread his wings
even further – to Europe for three years.
