Reviews for Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole

The average rating for Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-05-21 00:00:00 Tracy Ross Terrific read! Why did I leave it on my shelf unread all these years!!?? Dr. Jerri Nielson loves a good adventure, is tiring of the bureaucracies of the practice of medicine and has been beaten down by a disastrous marriage & the loss of her children. She sees an ad seeking a physician for a year assignment at the South Pole and before ya know it, she is packing for what will be a life-changing period in her life ( good and bad). You may remember her. There was a lot of publicity about her discovering a mass in her breast, how they biopsied it & subsequent treatment before she could leave. But that really doesn't happen until after halfway through the book. I loved reading about the interesting characters that seek to winter over on Antarctica (the Polies), the wonderful close-knit family they become, and the crazy stuff they do to spice up life in perpetual darkness and cold. Talk about being locked-down!!! I wanted to dance with them, have a few slushies and feel warmed by the friendship of people thrown together who care about you warts and all! I'm cold averse so that assignment would never entice me, but the lifestyle does. There is plenty of humor along with some scary moments. In one of the chapters the poem that was cited might strike you as especially relevant for us now Counting flowers on the wall, that don't bother me at all, Playing solitaire till dawn, with a deck of fifty-one, smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo, Now don't tell me, I've got nothing to do. "Flowers in the Wall" by the Statler Brothers.

Review # 2 was written on 2021-01-23 00:00:00 Deborah Panella Dr. Jerri Nielsen was serving a one year contract as the only doctor at the research center located at the South Pole when she discovered a lump on her breast. With no way to evacuate her for months and with limited equipment, she made international news when she biopsied herself. A daring air drop provided her with chemo drugs until it was safe to land a plane. I particularly enjoyed the earlier part of this book which described life at an isolated research station in extreme conditions. Maybe because I have read other cancer accounts, I was less intrigued by her very honest and raw account of reacting to a cancer diagnosis. 3.5 stars