Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea has started a fun new meme, First Chapter, First Paragraph, Tuesday Intros. Below is the first paragraph/chapter of Doctor Confidential by Richard Sheff, M.D.:
What would you do if you knew you had six months to live?
The woman sitting next to me on the plane waited for my answer. She had learned I was a physician, and had told me she'd recently received a life-threatening diagnosis. She had earned the right to ask this question and to expect an answer, especially from a physician
I was not dying, at least that I knew of . . . . Yet ever since medical school my patients have taught me that bad things, catastrophic things, can happen at any age. I've cared for a beautiful baby girl born to young, loving expectant parents. But she was born with Down syndrome . . . . I've cared for a father who struggled to overcome alcoholism so that he could be the kind of father he'd promised his five-year-old son he'd be. But this father died of testicular cancer at the age of 35 . . . . I've cared for a seven-month-old boy who awoke from a nap just a little warm and two hours lay dying, meningococcal bacteria teeming through his bloodstream
Being a physician has taught me to cherish this fragile life we've been gifted, and not to take anything, or anyone, for granted.
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Oh my goodness, I would definitely delve right into this book. What an intro. I do love to mix some non fiction into my reading as well.
ReplyDeleteAmazing intro, although I don't think it's a book I'll pick up.
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