A Few Minor Adjustments: A Memoir of Healing

By: Cherie Kephart

Narrated by: Lillie Ricciardi

Cherie Kephart traveled the world from the remote villages of Central Africa to the majestic coastlines of New Zealand until a mysterious illness thrust her to the precipice of death. The persistent malady led to years of suffering, during which her symptoms time and again were undiagnosed by well-meaning healthcare professionals who were sometimes competent, sometimes careless, sometimes absurd, and always baffled. The anguish, the uncertainty, and the relentless pain would have caused many people to simply give up and end their lives - and Cherie came close.

Told with brutal honesty, astonishing wit, and a haunting vulnerability, A Few Minor Adjustments is an unforgettable memoir that captures the horrors and triumphs of one woman’s harrowing quest to find life-saving answers. In the end, she finds much more than a diagnosis.

©2017 Cherie Kephart (P)2018 Cherie Kephart

An amazing and unpredictable journey

I was attracted to this book by the journey to Africa and I thought I knew what to expect... The adventure is all here but the predictability is not! This is a much more intimate and intense journey than I expected. I feel I know Cherie like a family member and a little scarily like she tapped into a part of myself. Cherie takes us somewhere we might not want to go but to where we all will go at some point in our own journeys. Her strength is inspiring and has given me courage to do bigger things than I could have imagined. And Cherie reminds me to take care of myself, my health and my body. Anyone will benefit from reading this true life story.

Hire a Better Editor & Reader for 2nd Ed.

This story is important for many, many people. The experiences she shares, nightmarish to inspirational, are very much worth reading, understanding & are conveyed honestly. This is not an easy listen, however. The narration is whiny and overwrought as if the narrator is reading to young children. The writing is similarly burdened with needless, annoying cliches. If I hadn’t been determined to know her ultimate diagnoses, cruelly withheld until the final chapters; I wouldn’t have even suffered through fast forwarding the twenty-plus chapters. Ms Kephart’s awful medical experience deserved more professional attention prior to publication.

Tough Listen...

This is a book about the struggles of someone with a hard-to-diagnose medical issue. The struggles were very real, and awful in every way.
That being said, the combination of the actual story, and the narrator's tone, made this almost impossible to listen to the end! Not a single positive word was spoken, although I'm sure there were points in the author's life that brought even the tiniest light into her drudgery. We'll never know. Even after life got better-it just got sappier.
I also did not appreciate that the author seemingly compared her illness to a person with cancer. Not even close. SO not cool.
Also, the dying friend-she made it all about herself in her martyrdom.