Heart, Guts & Steel: The Making of an Indian Surgeon
by Dr Sivasubramanian
E book
non fiction Biography
5 out of 5 since it is written by a member of my fraternity! And of course since we could feel what he wanted to convey!
This is not a novel or a fairy tale but feels more like the workbook or the medical transcript of a surgeon and being a doctor, it is just like what every doctor feels or experiences with a difference of specialty or cases!
Starting from the first year of surgery to the last year to the examination to the mass causality to the nail biting final case, the book is a fine testament to the experience of post graduate and medical student especially in India!
The lack of basic facilities, the fight for the blood and the bed and the run for tests such as CT which are usually not available in a Government set is told so well!
The best thing about getting a degree in a government set up or a hospital is that you are usually the cream of the pack and also the experience levels will be top notch! The number of cases you can see or do is incomparable!
Of course you have issues of facilities and then some but then you get some and…
Dr Siv takes us from his first year after a great time as an MBBS grad and intern to the surgical wards and the stories of surgery and complications and stress!
The skills you develop by doing but even then every new case is unique and you can never be complacent!
Lucky for Dr Shiv, he had amazing teachers and seniors who wanted to learn and teach and then some! Of course not everyone is lucky and if you have a dearth of cases then it is normally a rat race!
He tells about selective interesting cases like his first and his last and his complex cases and his timing which of course was slow at first and then picked up!
How he was a junior and slow and then became a senior and guide and how it was from the other side!
You win some and you lose a lot is being told so well since not every surgery is successful and not everyone recovers. But the adrenaline rush of those who recover, keeps you going in spite of low odds! Optimism is essential in spite of literature telling otherwise and that is a fact! The numbers in textbooks are only for your reference! Every patient and case is unique!
He talks about his great seniors and about the CMO’s who can be good bad or ugly! and then about the best buddies and enemies of a surgeon; the anesthetists! The silent but strong warriors, the nursing staff and about the most important person in the operation theatre and ward; the patient!
The lack of sleep and the work till you collapse and the last minute rush to read for the finals is a story in all the post graduate college especially the Government ones!
For a medical student this is a page turner which will bomb you with nostalgia and similarities to your own experiences and for the average reader who at some point of his or her life would have been a patient or known one, it is a great glimpse of our life!
All in all this is a frank, straight from the heart narrative of a surgeon who is passionate about his work and patients!
A must read for any medico and a good read for everyone else!
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