by Aoife Abbey (Author)
Grief. Anger. Joy. Fear. Distraction. Disgust. Hope. All emotions we expect to encounter over our lifetime. But what if this was every day? And what if your ability to manage them was the difference between life and death? For a doctor in Intensive Care this is part of the job. Fear in the eyes of a terminally ill patient who pleads with you to not let them die. Grief when you make a potentially fatal mistake. Disgust at caring for a convicted rapist. But there are also moments of joy, like the rare bright spots of lucidity for a dementia patient, or when the ward unexpectedly breaks into song. Dr Aoife Abbey shows us what a doctor sees of humanity as it comes through the revolving door of the hospital and takes us beyond a purely medical perspective. Told through seven emotions, Seven Signs of Life is about what it means to be alive and how it feels to care for a living.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 07 Feb 2019
ISBN 10: 178470945X
ISBN 13: 9781784709457
Book Overview: A beautiful and perceptive memoir that explores the emotional life of an intensive care unit, by the writer behind the Secret Doctor blog