Book Review: When breath becomes air pdf Download

Summary

Lucy has decided to leave for a week since she feels that Paul has not been confiding his troubles to her. Lucy promises never to leave Paul, even though the results of the scans reveal that he has stage IV lung cancer. Paul feels his future goes as fast as he is being admitted to the hospital. Paul, who is getting ready to go to college, does not picture himself becoming a doctor although his father is one. Paul respects his father’s ability to calm his patients and gain their trust. He subsequently decides to attend medical school, and after being accepted, he meets Lucy there.

 Paul chooses to concentrate on neurosurgery after completing medical school because he is curious about how the brain affects a person’s sense of identity. Paul decides to care for his patients’ emotional needs in addition to their medical ones after discovering that a friend of his was killed in a vehicle accident. He gathers the patient’s family and patiently walks the patient through her options before helping one of his patients decide to have surgery. 

Paul is aware that having empathy has a cost because it leaves him open and susceptible, and the profession he has chosen in medicine is one where many people pass away despite his best attempts. Paul considers V, the leader of the neuroscience lab, to be a mentor. V receives a pancreatic cancer diagnosis while Paul is at the lab, but he can return to work after the treatment. 

Paul finishes the lab’s work and begins his sixth year of residency. Paul claims that because he spends so much time in the operating room, his sixth year is like a time-wise black hole. When Paul discovers that his friend from medical school, Jeff, had a patient die from a challenging complication, he is once again made vividly aware of the weight of responsibility doctors hold as he draws closer to the end of his residency. Paul goes back to the day of his cancer diagnosis. 

He meets with his oncologist, Emma, who walks him through his treatment plan but refrains from disclosing the likelihood that he will pass away to maintain his optimism. Paul’s family works to assist him in adjusting to his new life. Paul gains hope for the future when testing reveals that his cancer is curable due to a mutation in his tumours. Because Paul would probably be spending the majority of his remaining time as a new father and would not get to see that child grow up, Lucy urges him to make the decision. He modifies his physical therapy regimen to develop the kind of strength needed for a surgeon, such as the capacity to stand for extended periods. 

Paul’s muscle memory kicks in on his first day back in the operating room, and the procedure is going well until he gets anxious and feels faint. A new tumour is developing in Paul’s lungs, according to his scan. Paul completes the case, collects his belongings, and departs. He starts throwing up uncontrollably the day of his graduation and spends a week in the hospital, becoming very ill and dehydrated. 

He gradually regains his composure and leaves the hospital. She is a great source of happiness for Paul and the rest of the family, and he feels proud to have produced something that will endure and serve as a reminder of his existence in the future. In a letter to her at the end of the book, he expresses his gratitude for everything she has brought him. Paul’s third course of treatment fails around Christmas, and cancer spreads to his brain. Paul has trouble breathing in his final days and is transported to the hospital.