Friday, March 5, 2010

3/100

Book: Trust Me, I'm a (Junior) Doctor - Max Pemberton

'I want to be the first person there. Get the best for him,' she explained.
The truth is, it's ridiculous - here she is, a good three hours before any shop is open, getting ready to buy a Christmas present three months early for her eight-year-old son, whom she hasn't seen for six years. I have this gnawing image of him opening his present on Christmas Day, from a mother he has no memory of, a moment so insignificant for him, but of such importance to her. This is all she has to hold on to. I look at all the people milling about, starting their day, oblivious. She's just a middle-aged woman standing in the street, anxious about what present she is going to get for her son for Christmas. For me this sums up the tragedy of how mental illness ravages people's lives, destroying them piece by piece. And yet Mrs Walden is still, desperately, holding on to the idea of a relationship with her son. She puts the photo back in her bag, waves goodbye and boards the bus.

Tuesday 30 September

We have now completed two months as doctors. It's unbelievable. To celebrate I visit Trudy, on the pretext of giving her some letters for Mr Butterworth to sign. She makes me tea, hands me some cake, then sits filing her nails and ignoring the telephone while we chat.

Note: Based on the award-winning daily telegraph column, this book was borrowed by me on the pretext of learning more about what it was like to be a doctor. It seems very glamourous on Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy doesn't it? As author Max Pemberton shows the reader, it most definitely is not. At some point you will need to stick your finger up someones bum in order to diagnose them. Enough said.
Great read, couldn't put it down, and highly recommended for anyone thinking of taking on the medical profession.

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