(48) Wow. The author is a critical care physician who has a devastating sudden diagnosis while pregnant that results in loss of her baby and almost her life. She recounts this experience and the long road to recovery with precision, poetry, and humility. It is powerful. So powerful for a fellow physician like myself who has has been a patient in difficult circumstances. To truly learn how vulnerable it is to be sick and frightened and to learn that our words as physicians matter - really matter -- was one of my life's greatest lessons.

I think the beginning of the book was most powerful. I had to eventually take a star off because it began to get a bit preachy. Her various setbacks and ways in which she was dismissed by her care providers started to sound contrived. I did not like the 'communication tips,' part at the end. Tell the story; let it stand. Don't dumb it down. Then use the rest to write a different kind of book another time.

I feel like this is a club - physicians who have been through devastating illnesses and come out the other side with this incredible clarity; almost a superpower.. I like the idea of being stronger at the broken places. The person you become is different than the person you would have been - you can't imagine your life without the suffering. The person you were doesn't exist anymore - on a cellular or an emotion level. a ghost. We bring our ghosts into every encounter - I am left thinking about that. Thank-you for writing this. ( )

This book gave me a lot to think about, and awed me by the willingness of Awdish to take a hard look at how she treated patients, and her willingness to work to train new awareness in her fellow doctors. Also by the amount of pain and suffering she went through during her illness and healing.
I have a nursing background, and thoroughly appreciated the mention of the many procedures, diagnoses, and treatments.
This was heard as an audiobook, beautifully and caringly read. Yet that also means I am unable to copy out any of my favorite passages. ( )

The author has written a powerful book, which provides her story of severe sickness. She is aN ICU doctor and she became a patient in her own hospital. She learned much from this life event. She is trying to improve communication between doctors and patients. She has given lectures explaining how doctors can be psychologically damaging to their patients and themselves. I am glad to have the opportunity to learn from her without having to go through her pain. ( )

I was first attracted to this book because it was written by a doctor. I thought it may have been about a doctor who had had a near death experience (I read a book like this a few years ago), what I was greeted with so much more. This was a slow to start book but well worth persevering with as the story contained within its pages is very powerful and at times gut-wrenching. However, it also showcases Dr Awdish’s own personal development and growth through an extremely harrowing time for her and her family. It also opened her eyes to how, at least at her own hospital (the story is set in America), impersonal the medical profession is. Her discovery of this as a patient herself led to her being a pioneer for change whereby the patients were treated as human beings and not an illness or surgery that needed performing.

Dr Awdish being a change pioneer though was only part of the story. A big part of the story was really about learning to make her own voice heard in spite of how much pain she was in. The description of her horrific trauma and the toll that that put on not only herself but also her husband and wider family unit, tugged at the heart strings. More than that though, it showed Awdish deal with the ramifications of a misdiagnosis of her initial symptoms, to eventually finding out what really was the problem and getting that rectified, to having her second child (she lost her first one as a result of the severe trauma suffered through her blood loss). This is a story of triumph, positive change where it was needed most, and finding your voice so that you can be heard instead of depending on others to speak up for you because you’re physically unable to do so. ( )