Heart of the Healer: Awakenings

A dying physician-researcher (John Baldino, MD., PhD) on his first vacation in 20 years and his last month on earth writes his memoirs about people/patients who made him the healer is is today. John is visited by special indidivuals from the land of the living and the land of the dead, his worsening condition blurring the distinction between the two.
Each starts with looking a a poem he wrote about people in his past, followed by writing about it, topped off by going out to the beach and being visited by the individuals he just wrote about. Lingering in his mind is the memory of his brother, a superspy who is somewhere in the 'places of change', and the legacy of his parents who were both superspies as well, John being too kind hearted and naive to follow in their footsteps. Also present, Kathy O'Brien, caretaker of the offseason beachhouse at which John is staying, who harbors deep affections for John as well as deeper secrets about her own past.