In Two Voices: A Patient & a Neurosurgeon Tell Their Story

"Linda Clarke and Michael Cusimano wrote In Two Voices together: it is the intimate account of Linda's surgery with Michael as her surgeon. For a decade, they had offices across from one another at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. She worked in Clinical Ethics and he was a staff neurosurgeon. They knew one another to say hello. Ten years into her work, Linda got sick; she left her job and, in the blink of an eye, she was a neurosurgery patient and he was her surgeon. The story builds a piece at a time as Linda and Michael tell each other their experience and then respond to one another's writing. Here is an unprecedented view into the experiences of illness, care, and compassion, an intimate picture of the experiences, challenges, skills, and commitment of a surgeon. The worlds of both surgeon and patient are framed by a most critical and delicate surgical procedure."--