What is it like to use a scalpel for the first time? What do you do when your supervising surgeon instructs you to do something you think is wrong? What does it feel like when you first lose your first patient-or when you save your first patient? In this medical memoir, one surgeon relates his experiences as he goes from a bright-eyed medical student to an orthopedic surgeon with nearly four decades of practice to his credit. Through a memoir told in vignettes and short anecdotes, you'll follow one doctor's journey from medical school to residency to fellowship to practice. An adventure story that relates both the highs and the lows, including the embarrassments and epiphanies, mistakes and successes, the errors made and the lessons learned, it paints a realistic picture of the medical and surgical practice using both honesty and humor.