Patrick Gillen

I Am John H. Holliday DDS. You May Call Me Doc Patrick Gillen

This book takes the facts about Dr. John H. Holliday and breathes life back into Doc himself. The author has lived through many of the same most crucial moments as Doc; in fact, it is a name that his patients called him and still do. He is, like Doc, a Catholic. It is singularly amusing that they both have so many, many things in common, except that Pat stinks at poker most of the time.

This is a very unique book. There has never been a book that tells the tale of Doc Holliday from Doc's side as consistently as this, knowing the disease intimately and living with an almost identical set of symptoms. He has a chronic cough at times so severe that is results in severe pain in his intercostal (chest muscles) that lasts for three days. Making it hard to breathe, move, or even bear down. Coughing or sneezing doubles him over. At times he coughs up blood. He is often hypoxic and unsteady on his legs, he cannot walk without a cane due to dizziness. All this makes his appetite poor. He at times may be dizzy enough to fall down with the room spinning and unable to move for 20 minutes to two hours.

The facts were gathered for over forty-seven years of research, off and on. So it truly is a fictional book, perhaps more true to facts than a nonfictional one.