by Joan Arakkal
As for me, I continue with the research activities and provide independent assessment of injured patients. It is now more than three years since my metastatic disease was diagnosed. The magic potion that could cure this disease remains elusive. Although cancer is just a word, not a sentence, it continues to instil fear in most people. That Yama, the God of Death will come to me, as he will for all of life, is the only certainty I have. His disguises are many and his timing is unpredictable. He may well appear at a time of his choosing, cloaked in a gown called cancer. But until he does, I will revel in the dance of life – and dance on.
AFTERWORD
I really enjoyed reading Slice Girls by Dr Joan Arakkal, the true story of a highly qualified young woman’s battle to break through to the male-dominated and opaque world of the Australian orthopaedic community (and other specialist fraternities) and, more recently, with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulator Agency (AHPRA). I saw some parallels to my own career, where I recall as a newly graduated doctor with a family, looking up into the various specialties and choosing to follow a clinical research career rather than that path which I could see was not totally merit-based. But I was oblivious to the not-so-subtle prejudices women might experience as they attempt to navigate the surgical clubs. Dr Arakkal also had to contend with racial prejudice at a time when AHPRA was formed as a response to an Indian born doctor, a USA citizen, who was allowed to practice in another Australian state even though he had been deregistered multiple times in the USA. She and hundreds of others, unfairly in my opinion, had their credentials downgraded retrospectively in spite of years of excellent performance in their fields in Australia.
Aside from her battle with a stubborn, male-dominated, surgical bureaucracy, Joan’s personal story educated me about the culture of India. The tales of her medical training read like one of the many historical biographies I read as a teenager, such as the life of John Hunter described in books such as Brother Surgeons and The Knife Man.
But this is a cheerful and very readable book that will introduce aspiring medicos to the joys of medical practice, where, even in surgery, the reward comes from interacting with ordinary people, and fixing them.
DR BARRY MARSHALL
NOBEL LAUREATE
CLINICAL PROFESSOR, UWA BRAND AMBASSADOR
WA AMBASSADOR FOR LIFE SCIENCES
AC FRACP FAA FRS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have many people to thank.
The women who ventured into medicine and have not given up.
My patients, who gave me the charity of their faith.
Stuart Kells, whose excellent suggestions and guidance have helped me discover my inner storyteller.
My editor Lorna Hendry and the team at Impact Press who have journeyed with my story and helped me tell it better.
My father, the feminist, who taught me not to fear, and my mother, who brightens up our lives.
My brother, whose unlimited generosity and support helped me through the labyrinth.
My husband who spurred me on and my children whose unconditional love animates my existence.