When Breath Becomes Air

Within the past week, I have had two productive meetings with two different professionals. Both of these meetings have had different outputs.

First, I had my second meeting with Dr. Dussor. In this meeting, we discussed different possibilities for my original work project and bounced topic ideas off one another. I finally came to the conclusion that I am doing a literature review, which is an analysis of previous research. I have done this before on a smaller scale, so I will know what to do. However, I have to make sure it is extensive and in-depth enough to be worked on all the way until May. Also, I am still jumping around on topic ideas. My number one idea for this project is to research the neurological effects of COVID-19. However, a drawback to this may be that there may not be enough research published on the topic yet, since it is so current. If this does not work, I have multiple back-up topic ideas.

Secondly, I had a meeting with neurosurgeon Dr. Hoes. This was my first meeting with a Neurosurgeon. I found this meeting to be very inspiring and got helpful advice from Dr. Hoes that I will be putting to use. Dr. Hoes also recommended a book, “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. I will be spending my time this next week on reading this book. Once I read this book and come up with some takeaways and questions, I plan on reaching back to Dr. Hoes to discuss the book together.

This next week will consist of mostly independent learning which includes research for my literature review original work project and reading this book which gives me insight onto the field of neurosurgery.