SEC-S15W3: My Favorite Book: "When Breath becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi
While currently having my night shifts of oncall in busy surgical admission unit I still decided to take time and take part in this challenge by Steem For Bangladesh Community: My Favorite Book, first of all due to invitation of @pinkcastle who draw my attention and secondly, because the book that left so many emotions therefore, I wanted to share it with you.
https://steemit.com/hive-170554/@steem4bangladesh/sec-s15w3-my-favorite-book
What is your favourite book? |
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Our work in hospital involves training of your doctor who just after graduation start their Foundation Years that means first and second year after Uni.
During a year, we have about 50 young doctors who have their rotation through surgical department every 4 months. I remember many of them but I remember very well one of them a young doctor Siobhan, she was hard working, always very positive and helpful, she was in my team for 6 weeks that is why we became very good friends too.
By the end of her placement and it was December 2017, she made a little present a book. Actually couple of weeks prior she asked me if I knew the book "When the Breath becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi. I said that I never heard about, I then saw that sparkle in her eyes, she did not tell me much and I actually did not think about that conversation anymore, till on the day of her departure she handed to me wrapped "thank you" present. When I unwrapped it it was that book, when I saw the cover I immediately thought that it is something special and it was right.
"When Breath becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi |
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I took the book with me for our Christmas trip, that year we had flu during our X-mas holiday and I stayed in bed that is why it was time for reading.
The book is memoir of a real person, the author of the book Paul Kalanithi, he was a young doctor who love his work and dreamed to be neurosurgeon. There is a good description of hard work with many hours that he spent often 24 hours in and slept in hospital between his hours. There were many different people with different fates, he made many people happy and also he had to share bad news with others about their diagnosis.
In his last years of residency he noticed weight loss and back pain, understandably being hours in operating theatre and busy oncall he and his wife thought that this is due to his work and first X-ray did not show much, so he kept going but the things did not get better and got worse than before. He had a suspicion that he must had cancer and further investigation confirmed that he had Stage IV Lung cancer in his 30's year old. That must be such moment when a doctor becomes a patient and you find yourself on other side and become patient.
Paul decided to go ahead with Chemotherapy and initially he responded to it and even was thinking to return to Neurosurgery. But the follow up scan showed that there was a large tumour, he and his wife decide for further chemotherapy but he develops the adverse reaction.
He becomes attached to oxygen and it is literally every breath becomes air, the health of Paul deteriorated and he died being only 37 years old.
When you read it, you can live everything like it was yourself. Even in early stage you can feel how much energy we have when we are young and we think we can do everything, that we will live forever and also being like him as a doctor you think you can control live and death.
There are moments of a difficult situation, how a doctor get over the loss of their patients, how much they suffer not less than the relatives themselves and every single case leaves memorable impact in our memory, sometimes good but sometimes bad.
While reading it we realise how quickly it can happen that you are almost a God who can save lives and in other moment you are mortal and there is no chance to trick out our fate.
Paul analysis his life and his relationship with his wife, when we sometimes decide to isolate ourselves and suffer alone because we want to protect our loved one, but this is something wrong because they also suffer from being excluded.
We live the emotions, the decisions and we all do the conclusions for us.
I hope that everyone who reads the book appreciate this experience of Paul and his wife that is shared in the book and will have a different look at everything.
I would love to invite following users for the challenge: @tetiev, @liusir and @bambuka
How lovely of your co worker to gift you the book, and it's good you took time for yourself to read, just a shame you were poorly.
Working in those environments does make you realise and appreciate how precious life is, and that none of us are invincible. I work in a nursing home and those are things that stick with me, as well as it being a rewarding role and making a difference in the lives we care for, big or small. Hats off to you for doing such an amazing job, I am sure your team are very happy to have you, patients too I'm sure 😊
My mum has had many surgeries due to illness and when visiting her in the hospital it's always reassuring when meeting the medical team and health care workers as I know those are the people that would be looking after her, so it was nice to see how they interacted with her etc. I'm sure you know from experience that family/friends always like to know what's going on, asking questions about procedures, risks, recovery time etc, and paying particular attention to those who are working in the aftercare on the wards. In my case, I kind of go into "work mode" when visiting mum, just making sure she has everything she needs, is comfortable etc, and of course it comes from a place of love and care.
I can imagine that book to be a very humbling read, and I will have to keep an eye out for it myself. Thank you for sharing, I always like to know about good books! :)
Have a wonderful day/evening!
Hi Lauren, it was indeed a nice surprise to have this present, once I got it I immediately wanted to read and it was good time for me to get over the time being in bed.
I can imagine working in nursing home might be not only physical work but also every resident requires a little time for small talk and just moment to listen to them. We also notice when nursing home residents admitted to hospital, we try to stay a bit longer while clerking them but also chatting a bit.
We often have a thank you card and it is nice to read some good feedback and also their experience. We have a good nursing staff team, they are our connection between doctors and nurses they alert us if we need to get back to families for update. I find it is important to keep families updated.
I am sure you mum is grateful for you to be there and being a caring daughter.
I hope you find time to get a book and will enjoy it :)
How wonderful that you receive thank you cards, you are all obviously doing a fantastic job! :) Team work and good communication is what it's all about hey.
Yes it's always lovely chatting to the residents, although I do wish we had more time to spend with them casually like that, as you probably know, it's always busy. But yes, I do enjoy talking to them and there families too. I love hearing there stories that they tell, some are very interesting.
Thank you, yes, mum is pleased I am here and taking care of her :)
Thank you, I have a few books here that I am planning to read, they're mainly
Philosophy books as I enjoy those, as well as crime :)
Wishing you a lovely weekend!
Greetings friend,
Wow, that's such a heartwarming story. It sounds like Siobhan was not only a dedicated and hardworking doctor, but also a thoughtful friend. It's amazing how a simple conversation about a book turned into such a meaningful gift.
"When the Breath Becomes Air" by Paul Kalanithi is a truly special book that explores the author's own experience as a neurosurgeon facing a terminal illness. It's a powerful and thought-provoking read that delves into the deeper questions of life and mortality. It's wonderful that Siobhan recognized the significance of the book and chose it as a gift for you. It's moments like these that remind us of the connections we can make through shared interests and acts of kindness.
Thank you @sahmie for reading and enjoying my post, often we are busy and have no time for stopping and look around appreciate what we have through the book I hope that it will make many of us re-consider what is important in our life and use our time appropriately.
When we suffer ourselves, we always want to stay alone in the corner, keeping our family and friends out of touch, and not letting them see our miserable side. What we don't know is that they are equally miserable, because they just want to help us and don't know how to get close.
It seems to be simple and understandable for everyone that it is better to share our emotion with loved one but it is quite hard to overcome our own hesitation and open up us to them. Hard lesson of our life :)
You have mentioned a very good book and we should read such books from which we can get something and by reading this book I think the effort to struggle can increase in us and the passion can increase. I like your post very much. Good luck forthe contest.
Thank you for reading, often books are difficult to read, there are a lot of description but this one is more in style of diary but written in the way of like a conversation rather than a standard literature, I am glad you like it :)
Salam dear! I really enjoy you post about the book given by your friend Siobhan When Breath Becomes Air as a gift. It's contain an emotional story about a doctor named Paul Kalanithi who faced cancer. The book makes you feel his struggles, and it shows how life can change suddenly. Its tells about life, loss, and the importance of relationships.I am sure it's will be amazing book.best regards for you.
Thank you for reading my post and that you like it, I hope many would be interested and also read the book :)
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Even without reading this book, your explanation of this book has made me to start thinking differently about life. Like the book, the rich also cry, this book has shown that even the doctors who save lives also gets sick and needs treatment. They also die. Which means that death is inevitable. Imagine every breath becoming air! The title is very fitting. I can tell you that the impact the book has on you is not out of question.
You must be grateful to the one who handed that gift to you. Thank you for sharing