Via precise diction and well-paced poems, Lew takes readers through the evolution of critically ill patient to budding surgeon, stopping to consider the hurdles faced and decisions made along the way. She renders illness and its inherent aftershocks in the medical language she is slowly coming to know. She struggles with the brutality of a surgical career and turns to others, characterizing the careers of role models as a surrogate for murky dreams. Uniquely suited to write this journey, Lew strives to show that after illness has shaken her and surgery has pushed her there still remains a woman in pursuit of joy, asking life's toughest questions alongside her readers.