Dear life :

Select an Action

Dear life :

Title :

Dear life : a doctor's story of love and loss / Rachel Clarke.

Title:

Dear life :

Author:

Clarke, Rachel (Physician)

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

320 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First U.S. edition.

ISBN:

9781250764515

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Thomas Dunne Books, 2020.

General Note:

Originally published: London : Little, Brown, 2020.

Contents:

1. Near Misses -- 2. Flesh and Blood -- 3. Skirting Death -- 4. Ghost Owl -- 5. Black Wednesday -- 6. A Numb3rs Game -- 7. Storytelling --8. Light in the Dark -- 9. A Piece of Work -- 10. Clutching at Straws -- 11. The Price of Love -- 12. Wonder -- 13. The Man with the Broken Heart -- 14. Gratitude -- 15. Dear Life.

Summary:

"In Dear Life, palliative care specialist Dr. Rachel Clarke recounts her professional and personal journey to understand not the end of life, but life at its end. Death was conspicuously absent during Rachel's medical training. Instead, her education focused entirely on learning to save lives, and was left wanting when it came to helping patients and their families face death. She came to specialize in palliative medicine because it is the one specialty in which the quality, not quantity of life truly matters. In the same year she started to work in a hospice, Rachel was forced to face tragedy in her own life when her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He'd inspired her to become a doctor, and the stories he had told her as a child proved formative when it came to deciding what sort of medicine she would practice. But for all her professional exposure to dying, she remained a grieving daughter. Dear Life follows how Rachel came to understand-as a child, as a doctor, as a human being-how best to help patients in the final stages of life, and what that might mean in practice"--

Language:

English

Personal Subject:

Clarke, Rachel (Physician)

Subject Term:

Physicians -- England -- Biography.

Terminal care.

Hospice care.

Palliative treatment.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	610.92 CLA	31330008947248	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	610.92/CLAR	31480011395867	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	B CLARKE, RACHEL	30470001840668	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	610.92 CLA	31548003317006	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	610.92 CLA	32128003874543	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

In Dear Life , palliative care specialist Dr. Rachel Clarke recounts her professional and personal journey to understand not the end of life, but life at its end.

Death was conspicuously absent during Rachel's medical training. Instead, her education focused entirely on learning to save lives, and was left wanting when it came to helping patients and their families face death. She came to specialize in palliative medicine because it is the one specialty in which the quality , not quantity of life truly matters.

In the same year she started to work in a hospice, Rachel was forced to face tragedy in her own life when her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He'd inspired her to become a doctor, and the stories he had told her as a child proved formative when it came to deciding what sort of medicine she would practice. But for all her professional exposure to dying, she remained a grieving daughter.

Dear Life follows how Rachel came to understand--as a child, as a doctor, as a human being--how best to help patients in the final stages of life, and what that might mean in practice.

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

End-of-life stories from a palliative care doctor. When she was growing up, Clarke loved to listen to her physician father tell stories about his patients, many of which taught her "a different, quieter style of doctoring in which medicine perhaps achieved less yet was kinder and more humane." Following those lessons, when she became a doctor, she chose palliative care. "I use my training and skills," she writes, "specifically to help people with a terminal illness live what remains of their lives as fully as possible, and to die with dignity and comfort....Rarely, if ever, does a week go by in which all of my patients survive." In this fascinating and often moving narrative, which features sometimes graphic details, Clarke gives readers an inside view into the life of the terminally ill and those who attend to them in hospice. Make no mistake: Reading about death page after page will bring tears to even the most hardened readers, but the author's empathetic approach leads to a clear understanding of death that most don't receive until facing the prospect themselves. Clarke also intertwines her own tales of near-death experiences and of her father's terminal cancer, and her unwavering sincerity and honesty reflect the profundity of life and dignified death. "In a hospice," she writes, "…there is more of what matters--more love, more strength, more kindness, more smiles, more dignity, more joy, more tenderness, more grace, more compassion--than you could ever imagine. I work in a world that thrums with life. My patients teach me all I need to know about living." Clarke's message is especially timely as we continue to face a global pandemic, and she also includes practical advice on end-of-life preparations and helpful notes about relevant resources. Death comes to all of us; these authentic stories show how it can be met with strength and grace instead of fear. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal Review

Clarke (Your Life in My Hands), a UK-based palliative care physician, looks at her life and career thus far in this intensely moving and personal memoir. From childhood accidents to feeling helpless while covering a terrorist bombing of a London nail salon as a TV journalist, to assisting injured people in the midst of her decision to become a doctor, the author also reflects on her medical education and calling to help people with a terminal illness live the remainder of their lives as fully as possible and to die with dignity and comfort. Along the way, she shares insight into her own story, and coming to terms with the realities of facing grief on a daily basis. Through it all, Clarke remains empathetic and personable. Toward the end, she describes how her father, also a physician, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and how she takes leave from her job to assist him, and her mother, in his final journey. VERDICT Clarke is a clear-eyed, compassionate storyteller, and the stories of her patients' suffering and final moments--along with her father's--demonstrate how human connections are the terminally ill's most vital medicine. A gripping read.--Marcia G. Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH

Author's Note	p. ix
Prologue	p. 1
1 Near Misses	p. 13
2 Flesh and Blood	p. 35
3 Skirting Death	p. 53
4 Ghost Owl	p. 75
5 Black Wednesday	p. 95
6 A Numbers Game	p. 116
7 Storytelling	p. 140
8 Light in the Dark	p. 157
9 A Piece of Work	p. 176
10 Clutching at Straws	p. 196
11 The Price of Love	p. 223
12 Wonder	p. 245
13 The Man with the Broken Heart	p. 266
14 Gratitude	p. 278
15 Dear Life	p. 298
Postscript	p. 307
Credits	p. 315
Acknowledgements	p. 319

Available:*

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Summary

Reviews (2)

Kirkus Review

Library Journal Review

Table of Contents