Review: Catch your Breath – The Secret Life of a Sleepless Anaesthetist, By Ed Patrick

I didn’t expect that being an anaesthetist in a pandemic would leave me outside my front door naked, or indeed that I’d be telling this story to readers. Nevertheless, I am excited to shed more light on this and the mysterious world of drugs and coffee.
– Ed Patrick
Catch your Breath is a gut punch of a memoir by a doctor – and comedian – whose job is to keep people alive after putting them to sleep. Ed Patrick is an anaesthetist. Strong drugs for his patients, strong coffee for him.
But it’s not just sleep-giving for this anaesthetist, as he navigates emergencies, patients not breathing for themselves and living with a terrifying sense of responsibility. It’s enough to leave anyone feeling numb especially in the midst of a pandemic.

Hilariously funny, moving and truly insightful, it follows Ed’s journey from bewildered medical student in Aberdeen to unflinching anaesthetist on the NHS frontline. A dose of insight into life on the hospital wards during the pandemic, while injecting hope that we will all get through this.

But don’t worry, there’s plenty of laughing gas to be had.

My Review

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of this book. Thanks to Anne at Random Things Tours for organising the blog tour.

This is Ed Patrick’s memoir of his years as a med student, then as a trainee doctor, before becoming an Anaesthetist, and his experiences during the first year of the current Pandemic.

Never wanted to be a doctor myself, I think people who do are mad, and that includes my sister’s niece. Too much peopling and pressure. However, just because I think medical doctors are mad, and also institutionally fatphobic, doesn’t mean I don’t have some respect for them. It’s a hard job and takes a lot of training. Also, until you get to be a pompous consultant, you have to tolerate the pompous consultants that ‘Carry On…’ films happily poked fun at.

I enjoy a good medical memoir, especially in unexpected specialisms, like forensic psychiatry or prison GP. I enjoyed this book. Ed Patrick isn’t just a good doctor, he’s a very funny writer. His self-deprecation and graphic descriptions of manky feet or anatomical blunders leaven the sometimes difficult material with humour and acute observations of the state of the NHS and society.

This book is moving, humorous and insightful. Highly recommended.

The Author

Ed Patrick has performed across the UK, including at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Ed hosts the “Comedians’ Surgery” podcast where he speaks to guests including Joe Lycett, Rose Matafeo and Reginald D Hunter about their health stories and experiences.
He also created and presented “Infectious Personalities” with Hat Trick Productions, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 with guests Charlie Brooker and Sindhu Vee. Ed has written and performed on BBC Radio 4, for shows such as “Now Wash Your Hands” and “Newsjack”, and he has also written for the Guardian about the intersection between medicine and comedy.

http://www.edpatrickcomedy.com