Notes on Contributors vii Acknowledgments ix Preface xi 1 "Can't You Do Anything Right?": The Shocking Realization That I Was Not Perfect 1 2 Beastly Bellies 5 3 The Friday Night Special: Or Why Do Patients Become Critical Just Before the Weekend? 15 4 Between a Rock and a Hard Place: When to Refer and What Do You Do When Referral Is Not an Option? 27 5 Courage, Mystery, and Awe: The Intangibles of Being a Veterinary Doctor 39 Julie M. Meadows 6 Placed on Earth to Test Us: The NotÂ]SoÂ]Humble Spay 43 Catherine F. Le Bars 7 "Oops!": Not a Good Word to Hear During Surgery 47 8 Learning the Hard Way: Student, Resident, Teacher 57 9 "But I Don't Want to Look Stupid .": How to Let Others Help You 65 10 "It Didn't Look Like That on Paper!": When Textbooks Let Us Down 73 11 "It Will Be Interesting to See Whether That Works": How to Be a Creative Surgeon 83 12 When the Unthinkable Happens: Mishaps, MisÂ]steps, and Medical Errors 95 13 Things Went South - Now What? 103 14 "There's Got to Be a Morning After": Things Went Wrong - Now Live With It 111 15 One Leg Too Many: Patients Who Lost Limbs 121 16 Reconstruction Rescue: When the Hole Just Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger 133 17 "Why Is Sam Straining?": Iatrogenic Strictures and Stray Oddities 143 18 "An Alien in My Waiting Room": Everyday Occurences of the Unexpected and Unbelievable 155 19 Rewind: What Would I Do Differently If I Had the Chance? 167 Index 171.