Medical Issues Depicted In When Breath Becomes Air By Paul Kalanithi
At some point in our lives, we tend to ask ourselves the same question; almost all of us have thought about it before. What is the meaning of life? We all try our best to become this figure that inspires others and leaves a huge impact on society, but have we ever thought about the fact that what if we don’t live to see this dream of ours? Haven’t that crossed anyone’s mind? It did to Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who faced the same question and strived all his life to try and find an answer to what’s the meaning of life, one of the many questions he had about life and human beings. The only way he thought he’ll be able to find accurate answers was through medicine, and surely, he did but it just opened up more questions, not just about life but death. When Breath Becomes air a book by Paul Kalanithi is one that might give you the answers to the questions you have in mind about life, death, human behavior, thoughts, and interaction. It also includes lots of medical cases that will put you in Paul’s shoes and make you subjected to the difficulty of a doctor’s job and the struggles that patients go through. This report will provide two of the medical cases/issues provided in the book.
The first medical issue is about the first birth and also the first death witnessed by Paul Kalanithi. It was during his first clinical year. He started in the ob-gyn (an abbreviation for a doctor who’s in charge of delivering babies and the treatment of the female reproductive organs). He was working the midnight shift in the labor and delivery ward. He was told by his instructor who is one of the residents named Melissa to keep an eye on a twenty-two-year-old patient named Garcia who was with preterm labor and twins. Preterm labor is premature labor. It is when your body is getting ready for birth early before the due date, and it occurs three weeks before your actual due date.
Garcia was given several drugs to help stop her contractions, their hope, for now, was to stop the contractions until when the twins have developed; however, things didn’t quite go that way. Melissa’s pager went off, her and Paul went to the patient’s room, the mother was lying in bed quietly, her belly was wrapped by monitor bands to monitor her heart including the twin’s heart rates. The father standing worriedly beside the bed holding his wife’s hands. For the next couple hours things were fine, but not long after, Melissa’s pager went off and this time things were different. The patient needed an emergency C- section because the twins were in distress. Paul who is a medical student was nervous, observed things carefully and mimicked the doctor’s actions. He was standing next to the attending as he sliced open through the patient’s belly until he reached the uterus where he sliced that open as well and a small face appeared. The twins were taken out, they were so small, their bones were showing through their transparent skin. The twins were taken to the Neonatal intensive care unit where they were placed inside a clear plastic incubator. They were surrounded by a lot of wires, to the point where they were barely visible. The next day when Paul came back to the hospital and asked Melissa about the twins, she told him that one of the twins died yesterday afternoon and the other passed away after she finished delivering another patient’s baby.
The second medical issue is about an eight-year-old boy named Mathew who came in the hospital complaining of a headache, after the checkup he came to learn that he has a tumor abutting his hypothalamus which is a portion of the brain that regulates our basic derives which include: sleep, hunger, thirst, sex. The tumor should be removed, or else Mathew will be subjected to multiple surgeries, radiation, brain catheters and many other things that will consume his childhood. So, a complete removal of the tumor is needed, however; it would put him at the risk of getting his hypothalamus damaged. The next day the surgeon took an endoscope (a tool used to look inside the human’s body), inserted into Mathew’s nose, drilled the skull and removed the tumor. Luckily nothing happened to Mathew’s hypothalamus and he was found a few days later running around the ward playing and sneaking chocolates from the nurses and he was ready to be discharged and go home.
In conclusion, when breath becomes air is a book that opens up your mind and makes you reflect upon yourself, and decisions. It’s one of those books that inspires you and describes what goes on behind closed doors, behind the scrubs, and white coats. Not only does the book show us things from the doctor’s perspective but also from the patient’s and students’ point of view.
