I first read “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi near the end of 2022. I held the physical book in my hands and found myself deeply engrained in the story. When I finished reading it back then, I wrote this review on my Goodreads account:
“The list of books that have deeply moved me is short, but this one belongs on it. A book worth re-reading, with raw emotions that never feel sensationalized or attention grabbing ... There were tears, but shouldn’t there be tears in a book about love, life, and death? Wow.”
There is, after all, a lot in this short book that one can relate to, especially if you work in healthcare. The story is Kalanithi’s autobiography. He’s a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a writer, a surgeon, and a patient. There are bits and pieces of all those relationships throughout the book. What strikes me most is that the author is writing his own book about life as a doctor who knows he’s dying, while spending most of the time talking about patients he treated. There is intense conflict that arises when you’re simultaneously a clinician and a patient.
Kalanithi shares of a time when he’s sick in the hospital and a Resident is guiding his care, but that he, the patient (nearly done with many years of residency), potentially knows more about medicine than his doctor. He shares some of the politics of decision-making in medicine when the resident doesn’t order his cancer medication and didn’t take the steps to correct the error, one piece of evidence showing how the system can impact patient care.
In general, I don’t like to re-read books. There are too many I want to read and not nearly enough time. Don’t you feel like you get everything out of the book the first time you read it? On very rare occasions, this perspective shifts. I knew then, and I still feel now, that this book was meant to be shared, discussed, and more deeply considered than I could do independently. This time I listened to it as an audio book. Originally intended to be a six-hour listen, I listen to my books on warp speed, so it took about four hours. I sped up a story the author was trying to slow down.
"There is intense conflict that arises when you’re simultaneously a clinician and a patient."
“When Breath Becomes Air” is not a long read, and the language is much simpler than many we’ve read in Pain Geeks. Laura already shared her blog post that outlined the themes she identified. Interestingly, I identified different themes than she did, which in and of itself was a great opportunity to reflect on why different themes would come out of reading the same book. I’m sure our environments and life experiences impact the themes that resonate with us, and I hope that each of you takes something meaningful from your reading.
If you haven’t had a chance to get the book yet, it shouldn’t take you too long to finish, but it’s really thoughtful and I’m excited to have a discussion about it.
Let us know if you’ve been reading!
Comments