Facts about Paul
What was Paul's family nickname?
Pubby
Finish the sentence: “What happened to Paul was tragic…”
but he was not a tragedy.
The first sign(s) that Kalanithi had contracted cancer were:
I will accept any of the following:
-bouts of severe chest pain and persistent cough
- agonizingly back pain
-unexplained rapid weight loss
On his last day of residency, Paul does what?
I will accept any of the following:
-Kalanithi corrects a surgical mistake, which gives him relief
-leaves behind his neurosurgery books because he will no longer need them
-removes the battery from his pager
Why does Kalanithi decline the “perfect” job offer in Wisconsin?
He worries that a relapse would leave Lucy and Cady without the support of family and friends
True or False: The book opens with the author expressing bitterness and rage at the unfairness of his diagnosis
False
What effect did the drug Tarceva have on Kalanithi?
I will accept any of the following:
-his strength and appetite returned
- it reduced the size of the tumors
-it gave him acne
-it allowed him to return to his work as a neurosurgeon
Five years after the publication of When Breath Becomes Air,
I will accept any of the following:
-Lucy is now remarried, ironically to a man who lost a wife to cancer and wrote a memoir
-Cady is now attending elementary school
-Lucy continues to speak and write in honor of her former husband Paul
To emphasize the emotional toll that caring for patients has on a resident physician, Kalanithi,
I will accept either answer below:
-recounts how his friend and colleague Jeff committed suicide after a painful day at the hospital
-suggests that while the work is exhausting, it strengthens and sharpens a physician’s ability to work well under pressure
The Kaplan-Meier curve is defined as:
measures the number of patients surviving a specific cancer over time
In reflecting on his cancer, Kalanithi identifies most with:
Greek Tragedy of Fate
In Kalanithi'sinitial meeting with his oncologist, Dr. Emma Hayward, they discuss what?
I will accept any of the following:
- wants to talk about survival rates, but she refuses to address it
-wants to be a part of the treatment plan, which she welcomes
-she wants to concentrate on his plans and the possibility of returning to work, which he hadn’t thought important at the time
According to Kalanithi, a surgeon’s skill is determined by what two factors? You must have both answers to get points here.
technique and speed
The title of Kalanithi's book is based on lines from "Caelica 83," a poem by Baron Brooke Fulke Greville (1554–1628):
“You that seek what life is in death, / Now find it air that once was breath.”
The significance of this quote emerges:
I will accept any of the following:
-when he contracts lung cancer and struggles to breathe normally
-when he decides to have the BiPap, a breathing support system, turned off at the end.
-when Lucy Kalanithi observes: “Paul inhaled and then released one last, deep, final breath.”
During his treatment and recovery, Kalanithi finds comfort and peace in
reading literature connected to his situation
As a resident, Kalanithi said he worked as many as _____ hours a week.
100
While Kalanithi entered residency with noble ideals and goals, he:
Worried he was becoming inured and calloused to the problems of his patients
Closing out Part II of the book, what are Paul's observations?
I will accept any of the following:
-his daughter Cady is a picture of dynamism, while he is a picture of decline.
-he realizes he is running out of time to accomplish all he wishes to do.
-part of the cruelty of cancer is that it limits energy and motivation to make the last days more fulfilling
What does Paul learn about his Cancer?
I will accept any of the following:
-only a very small percentage of people his age contract it
-it’s a serious cancer with low survival rates
Why did Kalanithi choose neurosurgery?
because it connected the questions of life, death, and meaning more than other specialties