What's it like to become a doctor in Canada? That question is answered from the vantage point of a nineteen-year-old in the Anatomy Lab holding a bisected skull, from that of an intern freezing during a survival exercise in Northern Labrador, from being pulled onto the carpet where officials were voting whether to keep or kick out one of their students permanently, from being up chronically at 4 AM, from dissecting a dead newborn, from fearing one's daughter has cancer, from making a serious mistake in an Emergency Department, and from other situations that beg another question: was it all worth it? Call Me Doctor documents the gruelling hours, misgivings, bizarre situations, and profound ambivalence of the entire process. It wasn't easy for the author, who had to learn the hard way what it meant to be a doctor while also charged with the task of becoming an adult. Ultimately, this is a tale of assuming responsibility, of a man responsible for others but not yet responsible for himself, of someone becoming a doctor despite his own worst efforts, and of someone improved by the experience. About the Author: Shane Neilson was born in New Brunswick, briefly attended the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, and then at the age of nineteen was accepted into medical school at Dalhousie University. His experiences there, some of them unpleasant, form the basis of this book. Shane then went on to finish his training as a family doctor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Along the way Shane found time to publish two chapbooks of poetry, The Beaten Down Elegies with Frog Hollow Press, and Seized with Cubicle Press. Shane also published a long full-length work on the medical poetry of Alden Nowlan with Frog Hollow Press called Illness and Alden Nowlan. Shane's poetry has been published across Canada, once being nominated for a National Magazine Award, and also in the UK and United States. Shane also writes a bimonthly current-affairs column for a leading medical journal. Shane currently divides his time between his family in Guelph, his medical practise in Erin, and writing in his room. He continues to be filled with a sense of wonder about how he made it this far as a doctor. Others have been wondering the same thing for far longer. |
