At Sunday dinner, Dad told 23 relatives: “She’s wo…

Patricia Williams, my mentor and the former chief before me, cornered me one day in the surgeon’s lounge.

“You’re working too much,” she said.

“I’m fine, Emily.”

She sat down across from me. “I’ve known you for twelve years. You’re not fine.”

I told her everything. She listened without interrupting, her face growing more serious with each detail. When continue reading …