I do not intend to stop my work as a surgeon for many, many years. I doubt my mother will drag me back by my ears yet.

[ But she looks uncomfortable, faced with the obviousness of her choice - to accept her fate or to fight against it. She's not certain what to do with herself, a knot of anxiety in her stomach, and she frowns as her fingers brush over the book.

There's no hiding how desolate she seems, suddenly. Small, in fact. ]

You make it sound so very easy.