Hot Lights, Cold Steel

<b>"An orthopedic surgeon's down-to-earth, fast-paced, and frequently funny memoir of his residency [told] with a born storyteller's skill." —<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></b><br /> Michael Collins' account of his four-year surgical residency at the famed Mayo Clinic traces his rise from an eager but clueless first-year resident navigating chaos and feelings of inadequacy to accomplished Chief Resident in his final year. With unparalleled humor, he recounts the disparity between people's perceptions of a doctor's glamorous life and the real thing: a succession of rundown cars towed to the junk yard, long weekends moonlighting at rural hospitals, a family that grows larger every year, and a laughable income. Collins' good nature helps him over some of the rough spots—but cannot spare him the harsh realities and heart-wrenching decisions of a doctor's life. A teenager's leg is mangled by a tractor: risk the boy's life to save his leg, or amputate immediately? A woman diagnosed with bone cancer injures her hip: should he recommend a painful operation even though she has only months to live? Unflinching and deeply engaging, <i>Hot Lights, Cold Steel</i> captures the author's struggles to reconcile his idealism and desire to heal with the recognition of his own limitations and imperfections. <br /> "Collins' life as a surgical resident is heartbreaking one minute and triumphant the next. You'll laugh and cry and cheer." —Augusten Burroughs, <i>New York Times</i>–bestselling author of <i>Dry</i><br /> "At once darkly humorous and truly compassionate. Not since <i>House of God</i> has there been such a ferociously funny look at the world of hospital medicine." —Michael Palmer, <i>New York Times</i>–bestselling author of <i>The Last Surgeon</i><br /> "I adore this book." —Tess Gerritsen, <i>New York Times</i>–bestselling author of the Rizzoli &amp; Isles novels