Customer Reviews

Hot Lights, Cold Steel: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's First Years

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
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This is a well-written and highly polished memoir about an Orthopaedic surgeon's four year residency at the famous Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Dr. Collins is a good writer, giving the impression that he poured his heart and soul into this text: it's funny, at times sad and gruesome in parts, but again, reading about the training surgeon, one gets the distinct feeling that these men and women, having to run through the depths of hell to finally get qualified, must be born to the task - or simply masochistic by nature.

If this memoir is to be believed, and there's no reason why it shouldn't, every nightmare story that you have heard about the four-year residency is absolutely true. It's astounding that these people manage to survive - the tortuous long stretches on their feet saving lives, sometimes reaching 60 to 70 hours is nothing less than miraculous. Treating patients day and night, constantly worrying that you'll screw up, taking peoples lives in your hands could send the most grounded individual around the bend - in some cases it does, but for the most part, these people get through to become qualified surgeons, as did Dr. Collins, but through a lot of blood sweat and tears.

Hot Lights, Cold Steel reads like a novel, as the characterization, structure of the plot and the pathos, the utter sadness of some of his cases, and the joy and exhilaration of his successes, had me just as enthralled as any top selling thriller. Dr. Collins has a gift for description as he illustrates the amputation of a limb, including a section of the patient's pelvis, in such detailed imagery, that it became difficult to read. He also has a great sense of humour, which I believe is so necessary to survive in this profession.

One of the more terrible of the Dr.'s experiences was the attempted resuscitation of a six year old boy who had been run over by a drunk. Collins and the ER staff did everything humanly possible to save the child, but his injuries were too severe. The undeserved death of innocence is hard to take, and it affected the attending staff in a big way. This was also terribly difficult to read. Then there was the young kindergarten teacher who just came in because of a slight pain in her hip, to discover her entire skeleton was riddled with cancer, unfortunately she died six months later. After reading about these cases one realizes that life is fleeting and fragile, and should never be taken for granted.

I have always had great respect for those in the medical profession, but this book has doubled that respect and opened my eyes to their tenacity, courage and skill. This is a great book and is highly recommended.

I loved this book! The story of Collins' surgical residency at the Mayo Clinic is passionate, well-told and very funny. The stories of the sometimes serious injuries facing his patients are balanced with often humorous stories about his young and growing family struggling to make ends meet. I enjoyed gaining an insight into the often difficult life of a barely paid, over-worked resident. What Scott Turow's "One L" was for law students, this book will be for residents. I highly recommend this book!

Even though this is technically a medical memoir, there is no need to be a medical professional to appreciate this humorous and well-written book chronicling Collins' journey to become an orthopedic surgeon. Although the book primarily focuses on the patients he treated and the lessons he learned along the way, some of the funniest and most touching parts of the book center around Collins' ever-expanding family. Also entertaining are his woes revolving around several piece-of-junk cars. Collins has a cunning wit and a fantastic sense of humor that make this book a joy to read.

As a resident in an era and specialty very different from Dr. Collins, I had a voyeuristic interest in this book, so when I picked it up, I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it.

I thought it was a splendid read, very quick and immensely entertaining. There are plenty of interesting patients and cases, and Dr. Collins is a great storyteller.

Dr. Collins touches on a number of themes that other physicians' books examine, such as the conflicts of interest inherent in training residents, the dehumanizing process of residency, and the pressure that residency places on relationships. He may not be quite as thorough with these issues as other writers, but the variety of stories "from the trenches" makes up for it.

A very heart-rendering, gut-wrenching book that causes you to get misty-eyed one minute and laugh out loud the next.

It follows a new physician through his four year residency program. He explores the trials and tribulations of his residency while living on the edge of total poverty. All this with no sleep. It is far superior to Willian Nolan's "The Making of a Surgeon."

The real question is, when is Dr. Collins going to write his next book?

This is a book that reads like someone is having a personal conversation with you about what life is truly about. I could not put this book down. One minute you are laughing, the next minute you are in tears. It is stunningly inciteful and gratifyingly soulful.

"Hot Lights, Cold Steel," by Michael J. Collins, is a fascinating account of the making of an orthopedic surgeon. Collins starts his residency at Rochester's prestigious Mayo Clinic with deep feelings of insecurity. In fact, he dispiritedly dubs himself "the dullest scalpel in the drawer." Unlike his fellow residents, Collins, an Irish Catholic from Chicago's West Side, did not do multiple rotations in orthopedics while in medical school, conducted no research, and wrote no scientific papers. Instead, he worked on a loading dock to make ends meet. To his credit, however, Collins has energy, intelligence, ambition, and perseverance.

At first, Collins tries to stay in the background and keep his mouth shut, hoping that his superiors will overlook his obvious ignorance. When he reviews a chart with the notation "Patient is TTWB," he wonders what this acronym means. Could it be "three times without bleeding," or "terribly thirsty without beer?" Collins disconsolately predicts that he will shortly be drummed out of the residency program for "practicing medicine without a brain." The author's self-deprecating humor is delightful and it helps to offset the tragic cases he recounts.

Collins explores the grueling nature of a surgeon's training: the sleepless nights, snatched meals, long absences from loved ones, and fear of hurting a patient. Because he is constantly short of money, he and his wife, Patti, drive a series of broken down junkers, and as his family grows, he must moonlight in order to pay the bills. The compensations are the exhilaration of helping a patient regain his or her health, the excitement of performing an operation for the first time, and the deep friendships that Collins forms with his fellow orthopods. Although it terrifies him to know that, if he slips up, he could kill or cripple someone, as time goes on, he gradually learns to accept the fact that everyone makes mistakes and terrible things do happen. He cannot let this possibility destroy his confidence.

The most memorable aspects of the book are the medical anecdotes: a boy's leg is mangled by a tractor and the doctor must decide whether to amputate, a beautiful woman has a rare cancer that requires mutilating surgery, and on a lighter note, a forty-year old man comes into the emergency room with a fishhook up his nose. Sometimes Collins succeeds, and other times, he fails. However, his four years as a resident teach him the immense value and satisfaction of his chosen profession and the importance of treating every patient with respect and compassion.

Hot Lights, Cold Steel is an intriguing account of the life of a doctor. Written by orthopedic surgeon Michael J. Collins, it is a fast-paced reminiscence of his four years as a resident at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Michigan. Throughout the book, Collins connects the reader to many of his important cases. Told on such a relatable basis, the reader experiences the achievement, thrill, and sorrow that accompany his countless orthopedic cases.

Collins discusses his medical career, describing many orthopedic surgeries in great detail. There is sufficient detail that people with weak stomachs should be cautioned against reading it. He not only discusses each procedural aspect of his work, he also describes the emotions that accompany each victory and especially, each defeat. A major theme throughout the novel is similar to a theme in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter: humans make mistakes, but nobody is perfect and people learn to forgive. Collins struggles with this reality, recognizing that when doctors make mistakes, people die.

Collins's book isn't all about his career in the hospital, however. He also tells about his ever-growing family and what his being a doctor means for them. Although he relates many pleasurable moments with his family and fellow resident friends, Collins also discusses some of the suffering his family must face until he becomes an attending physician. He especially focuses on the many hardships his wife Patti must endure until he can build up his own practice. Addressing a common misconception that all doctors are wealthy, Collins tells of their poverty, calculating his salary at $2.50 per hour, describing countless "junker" cars, and telling of their near-empty bank account. He is forced to "moonlight" at another hospital on nearly all of his free weekends to supplement his income, which means sacrificing valuable time with his wife and children. Collins enlightens the reader by recounting episodes of his life not only as a doctor, but as husband and father, making the point that doctors are people, too.

For anyone who is considering a career as an orthopedic surgeon, or any medical profession, this book is a must-read. By providing a unique look at the life of a doctor, Collins describes in detail the personal and technical aspects of every surgery as well as his life as a doctor in general. He makes clear just what being a doctor is about, vocationally and personally. Just like an awesome episode of `House', Collins's book will keep the reader interested for hours at a time.

In a remarkably interesting account of the author's 4 years in residency, the reader quickly identifies himself/herself with the author. The easy-to-read narrative style almost makes the reader as if all the events described are happening right in front of the reader. As can be expected, the medical residency is indeed a gruelling experience, and the emotional maturity one gains from it is reflected in the transformations one sees in the author through the events of the four years, as discussed by the author. Events range from heart-warming to depressing, but the emotional tugs all seem to underscore a critical dilemma doctors face...the notion of emotional distance with the patient.

The book is fairly fast-paced, and though peppered with numerous medical terms (mostly names of conditions or procedures), the jist of the discussion is never lost. The sense of humor seen in the chapters is probably what kept this author sane throughout the residency. It is a little bit amusing to note that the doctor managed to keep his wife pregnant throughout his residency, but that could just show how much he loves life. (not being judgemental here...). Any one who reads this book will probably have a better appreciation of the emotional training involved in being a physician/surgeon. A must-read. Clear off the entire weekend and sit down with this book.

This is a book that is not soon to be forgotten.

Much of it will stay with me forever. Dr. Collins writes in a manner familiar to me. He reminds me of some college friends as his humor is similar. This fine book brought back college memories. I am also from Chicago. I am fortunate know many Irish jokesters with beaming smiles. The Doctor is also a fine surgeon who tells us details of the struggle, the pain and the thoughts, anguish - unplanned events of life. I like how the book drew me in to his world at Mayo. I felt tired from seeing the pain of many innocent patients. I felt my eyes crinkle from lack of sleep. I would definitely read other books by Dr. Collins! Absolutely!!