Under the Knife
Life Lessons from the Operating Theatre
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Wilton Square Books
Published:6th Jul '23
Should be back in stock very soon
A unique medical memoir: the inspiring story of a woman who experienced breast cancer both as a surgeon and a patient
Dr Liz O’Riordan is a breast cancer surgeon who has battled against social, physical and mental challenges to practise at the top of her field. Under the Knife charts Liz’s incredible highs: performing like a couture dressmaker as she moulded and reshaped women’s breasts, while saving their lives; to the heart-breaking lows of telling ten women a day that they had cancer.
But this memoir is more than just an eye-opening look at the realities of training to be a female surgeon in a man’s world. In addition to this high-powered, high-pressured role, Liz faced her own breast cancer diagnosis, severe depression and suicidal thoughts, in tandem with commonplace sexual harassment and bullying. And by revealing how she coped when her life crashed around her, she demonstrates there is always hope.
- 'What stays with me is O’Riordan’s compelling description of training, which doctors will recognise as a sort of Hunger Games with the post of consultant as a prize, though with no guarantee that you will be left happy or healthy enough to enjoy the role. The author succeeds not only in telling us how she learned to love her life after cancer, but how a life after medicine can offer fulfilment too' Roopa Farooki, Guardian
- 'Gave me a real insight into what it takes to become a surgeon, and how hard it is to be a breast cancer patient when you know far too much about it' Jane Garvey
- 'Liz opens herself up to us like a patient opened up on an operating table, shining a bright light onto what it is to be a human being who holds the fates of other human beings in their hands' Greg Wise
- 'This riveting memoir lays bare the highs and lows of life as a lady surgeon. Liz O'Riordan takes us behind the scenes with the ruthless precision of someone who knows how to wield a scalpel and a pen. A real action-driven page-turner, the book also makes a thought-provoking contribution to the wider debate on how we as a society look after our healthcare professionals, and highlights the different way we treat physical and mental illness. I cannot praise it highly enough and long for it to be available in all good bookshops so that I can urge people to buy it!' Cathy Rentzenbrink
- '[This] is, in fact, the story of two women: one is driven by ambition to be at the top of her game, to face down adversity whether that is sexism in the medical profession or fatigue in the quest for triathlon medals; the other is her hidden self, ravaged by misgivings – will she ever be enough? With extraordinary candour, breast surgeon Liz O'Riordan reveals the emotional journey unleashed by her own diagnosis of breast cancer, a confrontation that will strip her of her breast, her fertility and her career, yet finally show her that she is, indeed, enough. Liz's story reminds us all that our achievements do not define us. In the end, we find wisdom by living authentically, and that decision is the root of fulfilment' Dr Kathryn Mannix
ISBN: 9781800182417
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
304 pages