I do not find a lot of books telling stories about their lives as a medical student or a doctor so the moment I found out about this book, it went automatically to my 'to-read' books list. Mostly of stories told by medical practitioners are found online in a form of a blog, a vlog but rarely do I find printed books about it.
Being too eager to grab my copy, I searched for it everywhere, online, at the Solidaridad book shop in
Ermita, even in Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) but I got my copy
from the University of the Philippines (UP) Press in UP Diliman campus
which is the publisher of the said book. The book cost at 200 pesos from
the UP Press (which I believe has a branch now in UP Town Center in
Katipunan). In the MIBF, the book is less 50 pesos making the cost of
the book at 150 pesos. I can say that it is not pricey for a book and
the content is really good. Quality paper, cover and print too so it is a very good buy for me. I personally like the last part which are
just extra stories for the book. These are the speeches made by Dr.
Tiongco when he was asked to be as a guest speaker in graduations. Reading these speeches really inspired me and hit a soft spot in my heart.
The book cover is quite simple which I like. It has a minimalist design and the book is not too thick. It has 167 pages, 37 real life short stories and 4 annexes in total. The book talks about the experiences that actually happened to the author from his medical education at UP College of Medicine, development as a doctor to a surgeon in UP-PGH (Philippine General Hospital).
I enjoyed reading the book because it is just a bit of everything, really short stories. If you continuously read the book, it can be finished in a day or two but in my case, what I did was to read 1-3 stories per day as I want to enjoy and savor the moments experienced by the author. The stories are short (1-2 or 3 pages) which sometimes make me ask for more. My personal favorites are God Forgives..., Tears of Anger Tears of Joy, Kissing Rounds, and Major Joe.
I learned a lot from this book on what could be experienced in the hospital especially under UP-PGH compound which is mostly if not all, the setting of the stories. For someone who aims to go to UP-PGH to train and practice medicine, like me, this book will definitely help you have a glimpse of what happens inside the largest government hospital in the Philippines. The stories will inspire you, make you laugh and give you a background about medicine, politics, the UP-PGH itself and real life stories that an aspiring and even doctors experience on a day-to-day scenario.
Now, I'm actually waiting for another book to be released by next year (2019) entitled Some Days You Can't Save Them All. it is written by Dr. Ron Baticulon, another UP Medicine alumnus and a Palanca winner for the same titled essay. I will definitely make a book review about it once it is released and I hope to get my copy signed too.
I am recommending you to read this book because it is full of heart, experiences and stories which will definitely to remember. I hope this content inspires you and help you towards our goal of becoming a doctor in the Philippines.
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