The Cosy Bookish Corner discussion

Hello Everyone!

It looks like we have a tie this month! Here is the discussion thread for Confessions of a Surgeon: The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated...Life Behind the O.R. Doors

I am really looking forward to reading this, because I am a big Grey’s Anatomy fan, and I’ve just gotten into The Good Doctor, so I am ready for more Surgeon stories!

Let’s go... Ten blade!

I love Grey's too! I for sure voted for the other book as it was already ok my want to read list. But I'm excited for both.

I've just started it and so far, so good! The other book is brilliant, for the most part it's so funny!

I am now just past 20% and I am really enjoying it and I am finding it really interesting, but it is definitely different from This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor, which obviously it will be, for various reasons.

Sor far, Confessions of a Surgeon: The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated...Life Behind the O.R. Doors is more of a memoir-style recount of Dr Ruggeri’s climb from Med Student to Surgeon, it is very detailed and you can feel the stress he feels when operating on somebody, the fear of having made a mistake, the guilt of when he does.

This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor is written in diary style entries, so it already flows much faster. You are reading the exhausted short, mostly funny, sometimes heartbreaking, entries of a Junior Doctor at the end of his shift (and OMG the things he finds! Ehm Ehm, Listerine Cap... I won’t spoil anything)

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I think that I think if you don’t quite enjoy one book, you’ll probably enjoy the second!

Now for the questions!

Do you think you could learn to separate your personal emotions for a patient when operating ((view spoiler)[ i.e. when Dr Ruggeri is operating on the shooter? (hide spoiler)]) on somebody?

Both books are written by Healthcare Professionals, one in the USA and one in the UK, despite their differences and being an Ocean apart, still one thing is the same: the sacrifices they make to their home/family time, often not being able to have a “normal” life. How do you feel about this? Do you think that anyone involved in the Healthcare System receives enough recognition? or do you feel like “They knew what they were getting into”?

Dr Ruggeri talks about meeting Surgeons with serious a God complex - If you were literally saving lives with our hands, do you think there is a change you could develop a little bit of a God Complex? If you had to choose between having a God Complex but being arrogant but never stressed or stay humble but always stressed due to second guessing yourself, what would you choose?

Do you think you could learn to separate your personal emotions for a patient when operating ((view spoiler)) on somebody? I would try my best to stay professional but I feel like my facial expression would betray me

Both books are written by Healthcare Professionals, one in the USA and one in the UK, despite their differences and being an Ocean apart, still one thing is the same: the sacrifices they make to their home/family time, often not being able to have a “normal” life. How do you feel about this? Do you think that anyone involved in the Healthcare System receives enough recognition? or do you feel like “They knew what they were getting into”?
I have a tough time when people say “oh well, they knew what they were getting into” about any profession. Yes, technically this is true, but I think in most cases people choose these professions DESPITE knowing what they are getting into!

This being said, the book started to feel quite boring. I appreciate that he was explaining the deep anxiety he felt before, during and after an operation, but personally I am constantly struggling to de-stress from work and trying to not worry too much about hypothetical scenarios, so it simply hit too close to home for me and I just had to stop.

I will say if you have a loved one is in a similar profession, I think it would really help to understand & support them better.