updated 2h ago
When Breath Becomes Air
Because the brain mediates our experience of the world, any neurosurgical problem forces a patient and family, ideally with a doctor as a guide, to answer this question: What makes life meaningful enough to go on living?
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Eli added 5mo ago
There is a moment, a cusp, when the sum of gathered experience is worn down by the details of living. We are never so wise as when we live in this moment.
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
Doctors invade the body in every way imaginable. They see people at their most vulnerable, their most scared, their most private. They escort them into the world, and then back out. Seeing the body as matter and mechanism is the flip side to easing the most profound human suffering.
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
A word meant something only between people, and life’s meaning, its virtue, had something to do with the depth of the relationships we form.
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
Maybe life is merely an “instant,” too brief to consider. But
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
Some days, this is how it felt when I was in the hospital: trapped in an endless jungle summer, wet with sweat, the rain of tears of the families of the dying pouring down.
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
What makes life meaningful enough to go on living?
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
spouse, rather than the patient): “We’re gonna fight and beat this thing, Doc.” The armament varies, from prayer to wealth to herbs to stem cells. To me, that hardness always seems brittle, unrealistic optimism the only alternative to crushing despair.
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago
A patient in a psychogenic coma retains just enough volition to avoid hitting himself. The treatment consists in speaking reassuringly, until your words connect and the patient awakens.
from When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Christina Ducruet added 1mo ago