Kindle Unlimited Paperback
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5 stars
If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll already know that the first paragraph of the vast majority of them is pretty much the same and this book review is no different. I start all the reviews off by saying that each book I read and review starts off with the full clinic of 5 stars and I'm always hopeful that they are all still firmly stitched into place by the time I close the back cover. I'm not shy about removing stars but I always give my reason(s) for doing so within the review - they don't just vanish into thin air for no reason.
I love reading medical memoirs as they always give me a new appreciation for all the hard, tough and rough work that goes on in daily life of every medical bod in every medical place... I just don't like gross things like blood and poo and vomit lol
I'm hoping this book will have either self-contained chapters or be easy to dip in and out of so that I don't have to re-read the previous chapters every time I need to use the bathroom... I wish I was joking but I'm not!
Let's get going shall we?
The "About this book" bit says that the typical reading time is 4 hours and 23 minutes, so in theory I'll get it finished before bedtime tonight, but at over 300 pages I very much doubt that'll happen. I'm not gonna rush it, just read at my normal pace to see how far I get before I head to bed tonight and I'm hoping I'll finish it off tomorrow.
It'll be interested to see how my eyes cope with me wearing my new "near" glasses for the first time as I could barely see the text on my Kindle with my "distance" specs on!
So far so good with the new specs and so far I totally agree with this doctor about the silly signage and lack of agency nursing when needed!
I'm loving this book so far! Self-contained chapters, written accurately and with my kind of humour. It's already making me shake my head at the management policies that are introduced with seemingly zero time on the ward or in A&E - yes, some things have got better, but surely it cost the NHS more to keep that old man needlessly on the ward for 9 hours rather than using one of the three *available* ambulances and crew to take him back to his nursing home??
Up to page 31 and I'm loving every word of this book so far! I doubt I'll get it finished before bedtime, but that's OK 'cos the chapters seem to be self-contained, so it doesn't matter if I go to bed part of the way through the book tonight.
Page 39 now and time for my first pit-stop of the book... if I can get straight back into it without having to remember everything I've already read, then I'll be able to confidently stop reading at bedtime, safe in the knowledge that I'll be able to start reading again tomorrow, which I always prefer to be able to do!
Page 42 and lunchtime... a second, slightly longer test - it passed the first one with flying colours.
There's a mention of an international furniture company so, in fairness to other books I've read and reviewed, the first star is, unfortunately, wobbly... I'm reeeeeeally hoping that the magic sentence will be at the back of the book so that it can be a solidly 5 star book like it's deserving of so far.
It's been well over 2 years since I last saw a dentist, so I've definitely been taken off their books now! lol
Just over a third of the way through the book and I'm really enjoying it... there have been a few "could-be-too-gross" things but the author has handled it incredibly well, so I didn't lose my lunch everywhere.
Unfortunately there have been a couple of brand names used so the wobbly star is heart-breakingly coming off at 43% and it's another one of my "shoulda been 5 stars" books... only the magic sentence at the back can replace the fallen star now unfortunately.
I'm officially a smidgen over half way through the book now (51% to be exact) and the last (very short) chapter was a description of diarrhoea so I'm gonna be taking my pills and attempting to read and recover from the graphic description before the side-effects kick in and I head to bed lol
Like I predicted this morning, I haven't managed to read the whole book in the time the dialogue box said at the very start of the book this morning, but at 51% I don't reckon I've done too badly. I'm gonna attempt to read a few more chapters before I head to bed then hopefully finish it tomorrow.
I'm finishing reading for the day at 60% which ain't too bad at all.
I'm starting off the day feeling shocked that children still aren't getting the MMR jab because of the hogwash that the tabloid spouted back in the 80's. I remember it well because it was around then that I was due to have my own MMR jabs and I was in a constant state of "will they/won't they" get me jabbed and "will I/won't I" get autism if they do. I got jabbed and didn't get autism but there were a couple of young children who hadn't had it and caught measles in this book. There is apparently *no link to autism* at all from the MMR jabs but they can literally save lives.
I'm also shocked by hospitals having to close entire wards because there just isn't enough funding to keep them open which makes the bed shortage even worse. I really feel for the medical bods working in hospitals with patients who should be on wards until they are better, but there just not being enough room for them on the wards!
I agree that out of hours GP's should be brought back too - another way to stop non-emergency patients arriving at A&E or urgent care unnecessarily and taking up a bed that could be used by someone else.
I can see the doctors points and reasons for thinking about legalising cannabis and making medical cannabis legal is a good first step but there would need to be free support available *before* that happened so that the sudden influx of cannabis users didn't suddenly start going to several different places to get their now-legal highs. I'm thinking that if it was properly controlled then it could be the drug equivalent of smoking cigarettes - safer and support available to quit if the smoker needs help, but because it's so freely available legally in a lot of shops, there is less stigma surrounding it and therefore not quite as "cool" and tempting as it would be if it were still illegal.
Up to 92% and I'm loving this book... assuming that there aren't 3 big woopsies in the last 8% of the book, it's definitely another "shoulda been 5 stars" book.
Just finished reading the book and it's definitely a "shoulda been 5 stars" book because the magic little sentence isn't there unfortunately. If you enjoy reading medical memoirs and enjoy sarcasm and humour then definitely buy this book - worth every penny!
