[.uk] Angels With Stethoscopes

Heart Gripping!!!:
I can't help but be in total awe of Susi Franco, not just for her perceptions gained as an RN but also for her sheer will & determination to overcome the major adversities she has faced: an abusive relationship, single mother of 6 children, her own physical disability as well as her one daughter. The writings in this book are visceral & one cannot help but feel the white-knuckle ride of the roller coaster as they read. Sometimes laughing out loud at the vignettes penned in "A Nurses' Thoughts, A Typical Day", reeling anger from "HM Moans" and total devastation with "A Nurses'Child". This book took me two days to get through. I couldn't quit reading. The author mourns that as a nurse, daughter and mother that she has sometimes failed to "save them" from their peril. On the contrary - as you will read, Franco has done anything but fail her patients & loved ones. Utilizing her knowledge, skills, experiences & true compassion as a nurse, sister, daughter, mother, patient...Susi Franco gives all she can give & when that has become exhausted, she has the grace to lay it before her higher power with faith & courage that in that prayer...the right thing will be done. Highly recommended reading for all walks - you won't be disappointed and it will grip your heart.

wonderfully accurate and telling book:
this book is short ,easy to read and well worth the effort .this was my firsy book of t his author it is well done and very poignant .

A Nurse's Journey:
Reviewed by Marcy Burns for Reader Views (11/06) This amazing book will touch the reader's heart, sometimes near to breaking. Have you ever wondered how nurses cope day after day with the pain that their patients endure? They can provide the most competent care, but still many of their patients will suffer and some will die. They can do what they must do with steely discipline, and they can resolve to be indifferent. Still, the best of them, those who are "Angels with Stethoscopes" remain compassionate and caring and inevitably they, too, suffer. Susi Franco is surely among the best. Her poetry, in an astonishingly effective mix with prose, at times is a lament, at times a tender love song, and at times a despairing wail. The words grab you and take you into the dreaded world of dying and death. They do not spare the horrors and the ugliness, the blood and panic and fear, but they speak, too, of hope and healing and understanding. When her own daughter is gravely injured, Susi Franco at once knows too much and can do too little. She navigates the impossible path of "Mother who is a nurse" sometimes with courage and sometimes with helpless grief. She does not spare herself in the words that take you along on that journey. This is a remarkable, beautifully written book. Its impact on the reader cannot be captured in any single excerpt, but consider the following: The passing of a life is a time to Be somber. Looking at him there in the bed, Unshaven Dirty Sharp bones barely covered with flesh The smell of death oozing from him It is difficult to imagine What kind of life he lived. I do not include the entire poem, but I wish that I could. It is that tender and loving. "Angels with Stethoscopes" is a book for anyone, everyone. Read it. You will be richer.

A "Must Read" for Everyone:
Susi Franco has done a superb job of providing a "nurses-eye" view of patient care. Anyone who has ever been a patient or has had anyone in their life as a patient or who may become one themselves, should read this compelling compilation of the personal experiences of a dedicated nurse. All nurses or hope-to-be nurses will find this book an inspiration and help them set goals for themselves. In this book they will find humor, raw reality, courage, and commitment. As one who taught nurses for nearly forty years, I wish this book had been available for my students. The book will bring laughter, tears, and reality to the reader.

Wasn't what I thought it would be!:
Assuming by the title name of this book, I thought I would be getting a book about nursing, in a story format. When the book arrived, I was saddened to see the book was poetry. I would have not ordered if I had known this when I ordered. I, of course, claim my own resposibility in the purchase and I should have investigated more before I ordered.