Doctor writes book on‘ humorous’ hospital experiences
AN oncologist has made a book detailing the humorous experiences during his practice at the Philippine General Hospital.
Even Ducks Have Cancer is a collection of essays created by Dr. Wilfredo Liangco, primarily from his blog that he first created in 2006. He writes about his experiences as an internal medicine resident.
“Luckily, not all stories in the hospital have to be about great tragedies. There are also many stories on bickering residents, talking about their terrible seniors, and the advantage of that is that I have a captive audience,” Liangco said during the media launch of his book at The Library Cafe at the Ramon Magsaysay Center in Manila on Saturday.
A self-confessed fan of author J.D. Salinger, Liangco stopped writing about his experiences after starting his own private practice. But he later rekindled his writing passion after joining Jessica Zafra’s writing bootcamp in 2015.
“We got good feedback for our stories, and that encouraged me to write again. In 2020, I attended Professor Marjorie Evasco’s writing workshop for doctors, and we also got good feedback,” Liangco said.
The title refers to one of his essays on disclosing the sickness to their patients. He came across the term after reading a book on the epidemiology of liver cancer.
“There was this one throwaway line there that in China, there is a small town that liver cancer is so prevalent that even ducks will get liver cancer. So, we ran away with that line to the point that if we ran out of excuses to the patient, we will just say that in China, ducks can get liver cancer,” Liangco said.
He said that he had to make some adjustments in making some of his blog posts transmuted into the printed page. Some of the jokes were edited to make them less dated and more sensitive to the tastes of the current generation.
The book was launched last September at the Manila International Book Fair. Its initial 500-copy print run was sold out.
Publisher Andrea Pasion-Flores of Milflores Publishing said the book will make one feel better even if it tells how terrible the country’s health care system has become.
“The compassion of the writer shines through every medical anecdote, and to [Dr. Liangco’s] credit, he is the writer that every publisher wants,” Flores said.
She added that while readers will laugh at the book, they will feel a little heartbreak for the gut-wrenching situation of the health care system.