Rust and Alchemy: A memoir from the frontline

by D.C Boileau

When Coralee's beloved mother-in-law suffers a life-threatening stroke, Coralee, a former pediatric intensive care nurse is faced with having to step back into the environment that changed her life forever.

Rust and Alchemy is a harrowing memoir that follows Coralee's journey from a moment crib side with ten tiny blue toes as she careens into the depths of post-traumatic stress disorder that often goes unnoticed on the frontline.

Written in raw prose and peppered with frontline workers' real-life experiences Rust and Alchemy tells the truth about the quiet culture of toxic resiliency that resides in the deadly underbelly of healthcare while shining love on all the dark crevasses of the nursing profession.

408 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 26, 2022

Reviews

[Jamie (jamie.bookworm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely raw, vulnerable and beautifully written look at one nurses experience of PTSD in nursing. A nurse that I had the pleasure of working with in my career. A nurse that I am in awe of, inspired by and truly feel honoured to have read her story.

A story that many frontline workers will relate to, and a story that will help someone that may be struggling with PTSD feel like they aren’t alone.

I also think people who aren’t on the frontlines may benefit from reading this - it gives a true picture of the dark side of nursing and may be eye opening to some to see what a nurse truly experiences.

This isn’t an easy read, but it’s an important one. It stirred up many complex emotions in me and it’s going to stick with me for a long, long time.

Thank you Coralee for sharing your heart and your experience with the world.







⚠️content warnings: death of a child, medical trauma, PTSD, depression, anxiety, death of a parent, grief

[Maggie Toner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a very old friend who is an ICU nurse. She has spent her life holding the hands of the dying and their families. I could never ask her to read this book. D. C. Boileau has written about her devolvement from highly skilled pediatric ICU nurse to the broken victim pf PTSD, living in terror of the next code blue. She chronicles the process of her injury, from barely making it home from a heartbreaking trauma, to the process of acknowledging the loss of her medical specialty to the healing and the ability to move on. Boileau expresses herself through magical liquid poetry and prose, so beautiful that you forget you are reading about death. The book is double spaced, and as a result you dont miss the impact of one...single....word. if you are a nurse who deals with death, please dont read this. It might erode the armor with which you protect yourself. If you are recovering from the death of someone you love, do read this. It will walk you through the process of trauma, grieving and recovery.

[Katrina Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir lets us peak through the emotional and raw trauma that paediatric ICU nurse Coralee must navigate through. A raw mental health journey of loss, grief, therapy, expectations and depression.

This book had me bawling from the first page. D.C. Boileau trudges through the pain of her memories and experiences and you are pulled in with her. Her beautiful writing eloquently weaves through the years of her traumas as if you were there as a fly on the walls.