Above the Knife
I am the last generation of surgeons trained before the work hour restrictions, before anyone cared about “resident well-being”. So many extraordinary things happened that I started to write them down on scraps of paper, napkins, paper towels, and on floppy disks when I had a minute. Eventually, I put all those words together in a coherent manner to create my story. Please join us for a new post every week or two as we follow the journey of one general surgery intern’s rigorous first year of training.
- February 22, 2026
Section 6
“Some wounds grow worse beneath the surgeon’s hand; better that they were not touched at all.” Publius Ovidius Nasa, known…
Read more - February 3, 2026
Section 5
“20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones…
Read more - January 19, 2026
Section 4
“Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves… Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All…
Read more - January 12, 2026
Section 3
“Every surgeon carries within himself a small cemetery, where from time to time he goes to pray”. Rene Leriche I…
Read more - November 24, 2025
Section 2
We simultaneously moved him from the paramedic’s stretcher to the ER gurney, hooked him up to monitors, got another…
Read more - November 24, 2025
Section 1
Blood ran down his arm and dripped off his hand. It was more like a stream than a drip,…
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