Mel Thacker’s hero’s-journey-style memoir Scrubbing In: A Surgeon's Journey from Self-Doubt to Wholeness (Hippocratic Press, 2026) shares her unvarnished and convoluted path from a difficult Midwestern childhood through medical school, otolaryngology residency, rhinology fellowship, into and out of academic medicine and private practice and culminating as a locum tenens physician and coach, speaker and social media personality. A large cast of institutions and characters (some identified or easily identifiable) propels her along her way. Thacker encounters both real and imagined villains, trials, tricksters and helpers. After surviving the abyss of a panic attack while performing a routine procedure, she emerges with new understandings and a drive to help others who struggle.