Yours Truly

Finished May 27

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

This novel is the second book in the Part of Your World series, but the first that I've read. ER doctor Briana Ortiz loves her work, but her personal life has issues. Her divorce will be final soon, but her husband's cheating with one of her friends is hard to get over. Her younger brother is struggling with the reality of his health crisis and is on a waitlist for a kidney. She was hoping for a promotion but her boss has delayed his retirement and she learns it is partly because a new doctor has just been hired for the ER and he wants him to also have a fair shot at the position. 

Dr. Jacob Maddox left his old hospital to avoid working with an ex, but he's finding the new hospital less welcoming than he hoped. He's an introvert and isn't great at social situations. On the personal front, he is prepping for his brother's upcoming wedding, which is to Jacob's ex-girlfriend. He's honestly okay with it, but his mom and sisters are worried about his feelings around it. He's worried about people paying more attention to him than the happy couple. He impulsively tells a lie about his relationship status. 

Jacob's first encounter with Briana doesn't go well, and so he writes her a letter. Soon they are both writing, and leaving notes, and occasionally meeting for a quick and quiet lunch. When Briana finds out about the upcoming wedding, she offers to go as his girlfriend, and he confesses his own lie to his family. With them spending more time together, they learn more about each other, their pasts, and their vulnerabilities. 

I found these characters had real depth and the plot moved things along nicely. A very enjoyable read. 

Life on the Ground Floor

Finished May 29
Life on the Ground Floor: Letters from the Edge of Emergency Medicine by James Maskalyk

This memoir is organized in a very interesting way. Maskalyk goes alphabetically through the letters of the alphabet, with each chapter on a topic starting with a letter. There are a couple of chapters where he combines two letters for his topic. So the subtitle doesn't mean what I thought it did, which was letters from one person to another.
Maskalyk works in emergency medicine at St. Mike's hospital in Toronto, and sometimes on the trauma team. He also teaches emergency medicine at the University of Toronto, and he works as an advisor, teacher, and consultant in emergency medicine in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This memoir of his work in this field moves between his work at St. Mike's, his work in Ethiopia, and his offtime with his grandfather in northern Alberta, near where a lot of my family came from and some still live.
The interesting comparison of a rural area of Canada, with a very urban area of Canada, and an urban area of Africa is one that emphasizes both things in common and differences. The hospital he works at in Ethiopia struggles to get the staff, equipment, and drugs necessary to treat patients properly. The patients struggle to pay for what they need. The families are a big part of the caregiving due to staff shortages, and lack of experience. In Canada, St. Mike's is right downtown, with all the difficult situations that that environment brings: drugs, violence, homeless, and mental illness. But they have staff that are well-trained, the most up-to-date equipment, and easy access to the necessary medications.
With his grandfather in rural Alberta, medical care is available, but not necessarily coordinated. At one point, he reviews his grandfather's medications and eliminates ones that don't give enough benefit for the side effects, or aren't needed. At another he accompanies him to the loca doctor, and explains his grandfather's condition and the risks he faces, becoming an advocate for the right treatment at the right time. I loved the closeness between these two men, and the way they dealt with real life issues.
Maskalyk is a man who cares deeply, who wants to make a difference in the world for the good, and who lives a life that sometimes is a lonely one.
Highly recommended.

The Night Shift

Finished November 16
The Night Shift: Real Life in the Heart of the E.R. by Dr. Brian Goldman
This book by Canadian E.R. doctor Brian Goldman, who also does the CBC Radio Series "White Coat, Black Art" is done in an interesting way.
It is structured around one night shift, with each case that comes in linking to other cases in the past. Goldman has changed names and identifying information to protect patients' privacy. Each case has both its medical and human elements and Goldman recognizes each. He also recognizes that doctors and nurses are also human and admits to his own failings and how he learned from them.
The hospital he works at is Toronto's Mount Sinai and he references other doctors' experiences to show differences in the cases that come in to different hospitals based on their location and specialties. I found the book fascinating not only for its behind-the-scenes scenarios, but also for the openness and insight that Goldman brought to it. He is a doctor always trying to improve and help others to improve, including his patients. He touches on many topics that relate to medicine, from ethics to technology, and makes it make sense to a layperson. This is a great and engaging read and I highly recommend it.