Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

129 reviews

quiet_vulture's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, and Blood

Minor: Infertility and Suicidal thoughts

smupple's review against another edition

funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, and Drug use

bookbird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Jan 2023: This must be my third or fourth reread of this incredibly special book. Kay is a master storyteller, and it's his finely balanced combination of light and dark that make this book so impactful. A must-read for anyone who has ever had even the briefest experience of the NHS.

Jan 2024: I don't think I'll ever be able to properly express how highly I recommend this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

rosalie362819's review against another edition

challenging funny informative sad fast-paced

3.0

Favourite quotes:
“It now seemed extreme and unreasonable in terms of what was expected of me, but at the time, I’d just accepted it as part of the job. The extra mile was the normal distance.”

“The depth of the lows is the price you pay for the height of the highs.”

“She bursts into tears, and out come all the will nevers, the crushing realization that forever is just a word on the front of Valentine’s cards.”

“The other thing I realize is that none of her many, many concerns are about herself; it’s all about the kids, her husband, her sister, her friends. Maybe that’s the definition of a good person.”

“He must realize we have the same chat every time, but it clearly doesn’t matter—he just wants to know there’s someone out there who cares. And actually, that’s a very large part of what being a doctor is.”

“I dress him again, look up to a God I don’t believe in, and say, ‘Look after him.’”

“You don’t cure depression, the same way you don’t cure asthma; you manage it. I’m the inhaler he’s decided to go with and I should be pleased he’s gone this long without an attack.”

“Medicine is the host who manages to keep you at the party hours after you first think about leaving.”

“It’s funny—you don’t think of doctors getting ill.”

“Think about the toll the job takes on every medical professional, at home and at work. Remember that all of them do an absolutely impossible job to the very best of their abilities. Your time in the hospital may well hurt them a lot more than it hurts you.”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

dizzyizzy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Vomit, Abortion, and Death of parent

alexiia's review against another edition

emotional funny informative medium-paced

5.0

This was by far the best book I’ve read this year ; a real insight to working in the NHS. A mix of funny anecdotes as well as showing the harsh reality of working in a hospital. I will absolutely read this again!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Medical content, and Medical trauma

carina_dreamer's review against another edition

funny informative lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

3.0

• Mais um emprestado pela bestie em Novembro e só o terminei em Dezembro. Quis lê-lo porque os exemplos que ela me contava pareciam hilariantes.

• Este livro é um memoir que decorre ao longo de 7 anos (se não me engano) enquanto Adam sobe na carreira de médico e também os motivos que o levaram a abandonar.

• Atualmente Adam é comediante e escreve guiões para a televisão e cinema. Com essa informação conseguem imaginar a sátira ao sistema de saúde britânico que aqui vai? Até quem não pertence à medicina e é um simples utente consegue perceber as semelhanças entre o sistema de saúde deles e o nosso. Por entre as piadas deu para ter empatia pelo que os médicos sofrem no seu trabalho.

• Cada capítulo aborda uma breve explicação de cada patamar na carreira, as responsabilidades e deveres, assim como os casos insólitos no trabalho e na sua vida pessoal.
Rondam à volta de 20 páginas cada, o que devia ser fácil de ler, mas conseguia ser um pouco monótono, sempre o mesmo registo, por isso demorei um pouco a terminá-lo.

• Ri-me sim com as situações, mas também me assustei um pouco com os casos de ginecologia que por ali passavam (ter bebés é assustador).

• Aconselho a quem não tem muito interesse em livros de não-ficção porque é bom para limpar o palato entre géneros literários. Pode também ser uma leitura em que façam intervalos entre os anos, quase como ler contos.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Grief

laura_t21's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Infertility

leonormsousa's review against another edition

challenging funny informative fast-paced

5.0

QUOTE

"So I told them the truth: the hours are terrible, the pay is terrible, the conditions are terrible; you’re underappreciated, unsupported, disrespected and frequently physically endangered. But there’s no better job in the world."

WHAT I ENJOYED

• the bigger message: no health care provider does what they do for money, they do it to help other people and for passion
• incredibly funny and witty
• very honest and raw, maybe a consequence of the descriptive and factual tone: the author does not try to paint himself or anyone else in a good or bad light
• great insights into the life of a medical care taker (doctor): 
  • the lack of working conditions
  • their struggles with balancing work with personal life
  • the pressure and the emotional weight they’re under
  • the feeling of unreadiness and how they grow as doctors with time
  • working in public vs private healthcare
• the side notes explaining the more medical/technical terms really help guide us common people
• the author narration in the audiobook is exceptional

WHAT I DIDN'T ENJOY

• if you’re not from the UK or are not familiarized with its health and education systems, there might be a couple of things that you don’t grasp as well. it's not something that affects your reading experience much and tbh a google search can probably solve it... 

RECOMMENDED TO

• everyone!
• i feel like it’s an essential read to better understand and appreciate the work of health care providers
• i imagine it might be especially interesting for other healthcare providers since they will probably relate to some of the experiences
• the only exception to my recommendation is if you have triggers connected to medical content & pregnancies (recommend checking the full list of TWs)

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

nelsvy's review against another edition

emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Medical trauma

Minor: Eating disorder, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Suicide, Grief, Abortion, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis