Rapid weight loss and severe back and chest pains begin to raise concern for him and his wife, Lucy Kalanithi.

However, when the X-ray results in a routine medical check-up return normal, he and his primary care physician attribute the symptoms to aging and work overload.

Returning home, upon landing in San Francisco, Kalanithi receives a call from his doctor telling him that his lungs "look blurry."

The summer before heading to Stanford University for school, Kalanithi reads Satan, His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S., by Jeremy Leven.

He is accepted to a master's program in English literature at Stanford, and one afternoon—pushed by his desire to understand the meaning of life— discovers the calling to practice medicine for the first time.

Preparing to apply to medical school, Kalanithi uses the time off to study the history and philosophy of science and medicine at Cambridge.

During his time at Yale, Kalanithi meets his wife, Lucy, and sees the patient-doctor relationship as an example of life, death, and morality coming together.

After two years of classroom learning, Kalanithi experiences his first birth and death in his OB-GYN clinical rotation, when a set of twins could not be carried to term.

Images obtained from a CT scan show organ systems compromised by cancer, causing him and his wife great sadness.

Because of his status, rather than stepping back and letting Hayward offer her professional opinion, Kalanithi expects to be treated as a consultant, even if it is his own case.

In the meantime, Kalanithi's family helps him through his transition from doctor to patient, and together with Lucy, he decides to explore reproductive options before he dies.

Test results arrive, and Kalanithi discovers that his cancer is derived from a mutation in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).

This fact gives him a bit of relief because it means that he can be treated with Tarceva, which typically results in less-severe side effects compared to traditional chemotherapy.

After weeks of using the medication, CT scans show a reduced number of tumors in Kalanithi's lungs, and he becomes determined to return to the operating room.

[13] Kirkus called the book a "moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.

"[12] Matt McCarthy of USA Today gave it 4 out of 4 stars and said, "It's a story so remarkable, so stunning, and so affecting that I had to take dozens of breaks just to compose myself enough to get through it.