I keep a list of notes on my phones with books I want to read. Most are recommendations from friends but a few are tapped out at traffic lights after listening to a compelling story on NPR. Do No Harm by Henry Marsh caught by attention last May and at 6:30 a.m. in Atlanta concourse B on Thanksgiving, I downloaded the title while others were having their holiday reading water.
I knew I liked the book but it wasn't until I was describing it to a colleague that I realized just how much I liked it. Don't get me wrong, there are parts that really gross me out when Dr. Marsh describes the actual brain surgery, but there is a compassion and introspection that only comes with age that emerges through the stories. The reader is faced head on with death, and in the lucky cases, a shot at a few more years. The chapter headings are medical terms with a story that illustrates a case. Dr. Marsh wrestles at times with the decision to prolong life for a short while at the expense of a surgery and at the request of the family or to firmly take the cold role of surgeon and say "it's time to let go." The stories are personal and I found myself taking a small break after reading about those that didn't make it.
Dr. Marsh has challenged my stereotype of a surgeon and made me appreciate just how precious a few more minutes can be. It's best not to waste any of it.
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