In Shock (My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope) Hardcover – October 1, 2017

This story is so truly amazing to behold. The horror that Dr Awdish survived is almost unbelievable. I am humbled by the inner strength she obviously possess.My family suffers from rare auto-immune diseases and over the years we have been treated horribly by multiple doctors, from shear disbelief to undiagnosing diseases based on cursory first exams by new doctors. Their cavalier attitudes make it very difficult to trust medical professionals. I think all doctors and medical professionals need to read this book. They need to see how their arrogant, dismissive attitudes lead to people's deaths. I believe that if you, as a medical professional, read this book and don't change the way you approach how you practice medicine then you have no business being a doctor.If you've ever felt like you've been dismissed or overlooked by your doctors you should read this book. If you like a truly heartwarming yet gut wrenching story you should read this book.To Dr. Awdish, you are an amazing woman. You have an amazing husband, though I know you don't need me to tell you that. To have survived what you have and come out stronger than before, you're helping to make our medical system a better place. If I am ever where you live I hope simply to shake your hand and tell you thank you for sharing your life with the world! Thank you!

There aren't enough superlatives to describe how I feel about this book.First, in briefest summary, this story is written by Dr. Rana Awdish and tells the harrowing story of her near-fatal medical disaster suffered in her 7th month of pregnancy. Dr. Awdish had formerly been an ICU doctor and now she found herself on the opposite side; experiencing life as a patient in an ICU unit.Her life hung in the balance for weeks, and it really took years of ups and downs after devastating setbacks for her to finally recover. She is now a working ICU doctor again and she also gives seminars and speeches on her experience and hopefully this will help doctors and patients alike.I have read several books similar to this, and indeed it reminded me a bit of 1991 movie staring William Hurt called The Doctor. In that movie an arrogant doctor finds himself suddenly becoming a patient and the experience humbles him and changes his life.Dr. Awdish did not need humbling before her experience - but what reminded me so much of that movie was that she was forever changed afterwards and that she was able to share her amazing insights with us. What a gift, truly.I could go on and on gushing about this book. She describes how devastating it is for anyone to find themselves suddenly very ill and being without control and how normal, healthy people don't, or maybe can't understand how that can feel. As Virginia Woolf once said, and I must paraphrase - there really is a land of the sick and a land of the well. As Dr. Awdish so eloquently stated:"I had lost my sense of myself as a strong, capable, independent person."It's so hard to truly understand this unless you've been there. As Dr. Awdish points out, it is the little things that doctors and other health personnel can say or do that can make such a difference for the patient. She does such a wonderful job going into detail about this.(As a side-note and example - I went to have an echocardiogram today and the technician stopped in the middle of the test, looked worried, and went back to my chart and came back. I looked at her concerned and she looked back at me and smiled and said, "everything looks good I was just checking something on the chart," and I smiled and thought of this book - this was exactly the kind of thing Dr. Awdish was talking about, and I thanked the tech for the explanation.)What Dr. Awdish does go on to explain to us is how doctors were trained to distance themselves from patients - that feeling empathy was actually a bad thing because it was believed it could interfere in their treatment of a patient and it could overwhelm them personally. And of course that is understandable.At the same time, she goes on to explain that this is not necessarily the case - you can feel empathy and show caring; and sometimes you just need to be more conscious of things you say and do in front of your patient. She also explains how it's not good for the interns and the doctors alike to not be able to be able to talk about their own feelings of failure or loss.I really do hate to summarize anything she says in this book because she says it so beautifully herself. I have dog-eared so many pages that I think that this book may fly if I were to throw it in the air. In her own words:"Perhaps it speaks poorly of me that I needed to become a patient to see cracks in our face. Did I not have enough empathy or perspective to understand the magnitude of the suffering that was all around me until it affected me directly? It's possible. But that doesn't resonate with who I understand myself to be. Closer to the truth is that I'm not entirely to blame. I came to medicine with an open heart, and somewhere during my training I was taught to wall it off. We all were. We were implicitly and explicitly instructed on the absolute necessity of partitions, measured distance and aequanimitas.We were taught not only that it would save us, but if we didn't somehow find a way to do it, we would kill those we were put there to protect. Our feelings were a direct threat to our patients. It was impossible to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients if we felt something as they decompensated in front of us, struggled with cancer diagnoses in our office, and lost their dignity to disease.It was a lie.It is entirely possible to feel someone's pain acknowledge their suffering, hold it in our hands and support them with our present without depleting ourselves, without clouding our judgment. But only if we are honest about our own feelings. Physicians are prone to all the same human emotions of pride and guilt and denial and shame that distort our reason. We are just trained to believe we can surmount them. Emotions tended to can be claimed. Those we deny will always float. Allowing space for our feelings when we've been trained to deny them is not selfish, it's necessary, both for ourselves and for our patients."I so highly recommend this book. It is a must for everyone in the medical field and would be of great interest to anyone else, including those who have suffered from a serious illness or know someone who has. And as pointed out in the book, since that is inevitable in life, well then I guess I would recommend this book to everyone.

Every medical caregiver, every discouraged person, every person who has run out of hope should read this book. This book shows the importance of communication and empathy. Medicine has advanced in miraculous ways, we can “ fix” so much. Let’s learn how to add communication, connection and empathy.

This book has reignited a passion for sincere, empathetic, and intentional patient care. By reading her book as a physician who was also a patient, it gives you such a unique and raw look into the patient care that is being delivered. No matter if you are a physician, nurse, or care technician, this book can apply to your practice and make you wonder about how you really impact your patients. Dr. Awdish puts forth a very easy reading style and delivers a powerful message to the reader. As a nurse, I cannot recommend this book enough.

Reading this book helped me find my voice in years past as a nurse in hospitals or clinics.Times are changing, but in a way the human nature of arrogance and fatigue causes us allto lapse in communication skills or sensitivity. This author is extremely gifted inverbalizing her thoughts after her many crisis were over. Brilliant! I feel this book should berequired reading in nursing and medical schools. I couldn't put the book down and learneddeeper insights into the patient-doctor relationship. I find the principles could also be appliedto other fields where there is a "professional" and a client or parishioner. Experiencing whatothers feel is always a great lesson in humility.

I could barely put this book down! The author's journey way incredible and heartbreaking and terrible and wonderful. She found light, but more importantly found profound insight to improve the lives and relationships of providers and patients. I am so proud to work for the same organization Dr. Awdish works for and hope to help further promote positive communication that improves the lives of our patients.

I've been lucky enough to meet Dr. Awdish. She has a kindness and compassion I wish everyone could have. Now I know why. A beautiful, moving story, this should be required reading for anyone in healthcare.

The author is conveying her personal story, which is compelling. She's conveying commentary about the medical field and care providers in particular. She's suggesting a better path forward, which is commendable and needed. However, I'm not certain she ever completes her objectives. Thoughts seem scattered, through lines not fully drawn. However, there is enough strong content in all three areas for a good read (that probably could have been edited down some).

On one level this book is an emotional rollercoaster of a story about a remarkable woman, her near-death or actual-death experience, and her humbling account of her recovery from that as well as her courageous story of how she is seeking to reshape the cultural formation of medical professionals as a result. Indeed, this is how I first encountered the author’s writing - an article she published a few years ago where she alluded to her experience as a patient and how it formed and stiffened her resolve to make that new difference. If the book had confined itself to this mission, it would truly deserve all the accolades it has received. But this book is something much greater, much deeper, more whole, than any of these things. And yet it is wonderfully incomplete - the book is in some ways a clarion call to all of us who work in a professional space with the public to really think about how we talk to and relate with patients or learners. It ends with a clear indication that we have a lot to do. Like the subtle but clearly audible ringing of a small but beautifully ornate bell, the word “sacred” occurs a number of times through the book, particularly towards the end. Not in any overtly or overbearing religious way. Rather, it does so in a way that echoes the writing of Sarah Blondin who talks about the importance of making what you do sacred. Or like the first of the four agreements - Be impeccable with your word. The idea of authentic communication and how it can help both the professional and those they are working with. Or like the sense of where Andy Hargreaves talks about the idea of spiritual leadership - a sense of spirituality that is rooted in sense of self and sense of place - two soul-rooted cavernous depths from which so much light can come. Interestingly, at one point Rana says that this story is about the darkness - and when you read the book you will have some sense of the profound beauty of that statement. It has echoes of John O’Donohue who pointed out that all life begins in darkness. This book has created a new sacred space in my heart - a new room in the home of my heart - and Rana seems to call on us to gather the sparks of light to fill this space of hope. It is an incredibly inspirational, uplifting and humbling book that is rooted in the sorrow and beauty of real lives - this multi-layered paradox should give some sense of the rich depths which this book helps you to explore.

I couldn't have read this at better time, just wish I had read the last 20% before my appointment with Cardiologist, no scrap that, I don't know where he was, it was Registrar who sadly did not ask questions I expected as I had researched the condition I was told I had, with nothing other than blood pressure, ECG, I was passed to have 2 minor ops done. Before that, I will pay for a second opinion, my brain and heart are anything but happy with the Consultation, or the fact, the Registrar couldn't finish his sentence about why he was not seeing me. Annoyed, recent family history of Genetic Heart defect just been discovered. Without MRI, needed in this case, gaily informed ops could go ahead.Consultation could be termed short. I will pay for second opinion despite having few funds as I have 4 sons who will need to know do I have the gene, if so they have 50% chance of inheriting.As with other issues, where it turned out eventually, suffering a lot, I have been right.Problem, definitely are not listening. I hadn't the confidence to ask as I didn't feel questions were welcome.I needed to use her list.Yes I have Lupus, etc. I know my problems are not all down to that, feel dismissed when, yes, but you have Lupus is always brought up, giving an out.Screenshots will be taken, I will do as she suggests. I will also try not to be afraid to call them out on a diagnosis given without adequate tests and information gathering.Undoubtedly opened my eyes.Excellent reading too.Thank you.

This book was amazing. Dr Awdish writes with clarity and great emotion and holds nothing back about the dreadful things which happened to her whilst in hospital. Many people will be able to identify with her as she goes through crisis afer crisis and nearly loses her life. Her realisation about how patients feel in extreme situations comes as a complete revelation to her and it is obvious that she is both horrified and scared to death. It is very comforting to know that at least one doctor, albeit in the USA, at last understands how we patients feel in extremis. However, she has the benefit of being an ITU consultant and can see as she goes through her treatment, what and how things are happening to her and is torn between talking to her colleagues both as doctor and patient, something the ordinary patient cannot do. We often do not understand what is being done and why and we are often not told, for whatever reason. I am very concerned with doctor/patient relations and am very concerned that little training is given. But the other, more unexpected, revelation in this book, is the way doctors and trained and treated by their superiors. I hadn't realised that the medical profession regard itself often as failures, having to deal with guilt and shame on a daily basis. Some even kill themselves because of the way they are made to feel, not just by grieving patients, but by their own colleagues. Nothwithstanding the Hypocratic oath which states "Do no harm" - when we consult our doctors, the harm is already done and the medical profession try to make it better, not always successfully. But they do their best even if they fail, and we need to understand this. Furthermore, sometimes it is a better outcome to die than to live and the relentless way in which some doctors are encouraged and even bullied into preserving life at all costs, is horrendous for all concerned. I would encourage everyone to read this book as it shines a clear light on the medical profession. Dr Awdish has shown amazing insight into one of the most important situations in our lives and this clearly written, empathic and brilliant book helps us to better understanding. One of the most amazing and important books I have ever read.

It's not a book for entertainment or for passing time more an informative and personal viewpoint of how it feels to be critically ill from a professional medics viewpoint. I found myself skipping some paragraphs because I didn't understand the narrative. I did gain the insight of how the medical practitioners perceive their patients although I had actually guessed this already having like e most people been a patient at some point in my life. It is not light reading but I feel the medical profession could gain much from reading this book. I hope the do then the public will benefit.

When she was seven months pregnant with her first child, Rana Awdish suffered devastating internal bleeding. She lost the baby and very nearly her life, ‘dying’ twice, once in the operating theatre and once in the intensive care unit where she worked. In some ways, this is a biography detailing the long road to recovery and the desire, against all the odds, to have another child. It’s also an impassioned plea for empathy in medicine, mainly, of course for the patients’ wellbeing, but also for the benefit of health care professionals, who can suffer stress when emotions are denied.