The unforgettable memoir from the bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie
A few years ago, I found myself in A&E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn't eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat... but I knew I had to carry on. Because I wasn't the patient. I was the doctor.
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The unforgettable memoir from the bestselling author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things About Elsie
A few years ago, I found myself in A&E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn't eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat... but I knew I had to carry on. Because I wasn't the patient. I was the doctor.
No sleep, skeleton support, a head full of anatomy lectures and idealism: this is life for our junior doctors in their first few years on the wards. Here, Joanna Cannon tells her own story in visceral, heart-rending snapshots.
We walk with her, facing extraordinary and daunting moments and meeting her patients: from attending her first post-mortem, learning the overwhelming power of a well or badly chosen word, sitting with a young woman in her final hours, to small sustaining acts of kindness and connection. These moments teach her that emotional care can be just as critical as restoring a heartbeat - and eventually lead her to her true home in
psychiatry.
Deeply moving, warm, compassionate and beautifully written, Breaking & Mending shows us why we need to better care for mental health - and for those who care for us.
A few years ago, I found myself in A&E. I had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn't eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat... but I knew I had to carry on. Because I wasn't the patient. I was the doctor.
No sleep, skeleton support, a head full of anatomy lectures and idealism: this is life for our junior doctors in their first few years on the wards. Here, Joanna Cannon tells her own story in visceral, heart-rending snapshots.
We walk with her, facing extraordinary and daunting moments and meeting her patients: from attending her first post-mortem, learning the overwhelming power of a well or badly chosen word, sitting with a young woman in her final hours, to small sustaining acts of kindness and connection. These moments teach her that emotional care can be just as critical as restoring a heartbeat - and eventually lead her to her true home in
psychiatry.
Deeply moving, warm, compassionate and beautifully written, Breaking & Mending shows us why we need to better care for mental health - and for those who care for us.
- ISBN10 1444844822
- ISBN13 9781444844825
- Publish Date 1 May 2020 (first published 26 September 2019)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher F A Thorpe (Publishers)
- Imprint Ulverscroft Ltd
- Edition Large type / large print edition
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 192
- Language English
