Edited by neurosurgeon and writer Ronnie E. Baticulon and poet Marjorie Evasco, this anthology brings together thirteen Philippine short stories set in hospitals, clinics, and patients' homes, from remote provinces to squalid urban centers. Physicians and nurses contend with the anxieties of their profession while patients and their loved ones face fear and a pain that goes beyond the physical. Some stories are told from a doctor's point of view, a few written by doctors themselves, giving the collection an authenticity that cuts both ways. The drama that accompanies these riveting life-and-death situations may be manifested flamboyantly or quietly, but never without poignance. Amidst it all, love and devotion, hope and determination — the most vital things — shine through.