In 1975, a young Cornishman walked into a Western Australian hospital and began a nursing career that would span five decades, three states, and some of the most remote communities on earth.
Watch the Testicles is the memoir of Robin Moon, one of Australia's first university-educated male Nurse Practitioners. From psychiatric wards in Perth to Royal Flying Doctor aircraft over the Pilbara, from the Kimberley to the Kutjungka, from emergency departments to a fish and chip shop in Kalbarri, Robin's story takes the reader into the heart of Australian healthcare with unflinching honesty, dry humour, and deep compassion.
Along the way, he delivers babies in standing positions, loses a patient at 10,000 feet, ventilates a German Shepherd with hospital equipment, confronts a gunman in a waiting room, and navigates the quiet bureaucratic destruction of a manager later convicted of child pornography. He cares for his dying parents, watches his grandson fight cancer, and receives his own diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, the same condition he first encountered as a seventeen-year-old student washing an elderly patient named Fred.
This is a book about what it means to spend a lifetime caring for others and then, slowly, to become the one who needs care. It is about the intimacy of nursing, its physicality, its capacity for misunderstanding, and its necessity for clarity. It is about the dark humour that keeps healthcare workers sane, the friendships that sustain them, and the quiet courage of ordinary people doing extraordinary work.
Watch the Testicles is essential reading for anyone who has ever cared for someone, been cared for, or wondered what happens on the other side of the hospital curtain.
About the Author :
Robin Moon was born in Cornwall and migrated with his family to Australia in 1962. He was educated in Kalgoorlie, where he developed a lifelong love of the outdoors through scouting, earning the Queen's Scout Award in 1973. In 1975, he commenced a nursing career that would span decades and ultimately shape the stories within this book. Robin became one of Western Australia's first university-educated male Nurse Practitioners, with clinical experience spanning emergency nursing, midwifery, intensive care, mental health, remote and Indigenous healthcare, and primary care. He holds a Master of Nursing (Nurse Practitioner) from Curtin University and served as State Chairperson of the Australian Nurse Practitioner Association. Robin is the father of two daughters and a son, and a grandfather to three boys. Now living in Perth, he has, following a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease, exchanged plans for long-distance trekking for the more measured pursuit of tending to his toy soldier collection, an interest approached with appropriate seriousness. This is his first book.
Review :
"Robin's memoirs are a powerful reminder of the richness of the nursing profession and the unique lived experiences it offers. From moments of life and death to the quiet impact of care, these stories reflect a depth few professions can claim. His sense of adventure, humour, empathy and stoicism is of the highest order. This is a compelling account of a life well led."
- Martin L. Rodger, PhD (Nursing)
"Robin's story is a tour de force, a remarkably well-told account of a nursing career shaped by purpose and relevance. His writing is pared back with an economy of words that brings both clarity and flow, reflecting the pace and intensity of acute care. The result is a rich yet compact narrative that is evocative, disciplined, and deeply resonant, a tale of a life well lived."
- Dr. Bev Scott RN, NP, PhD
"This memoir is a testament to professional integrity, written in a no-nonsense style with pathos and humour. It challenges assumptions about nursing, revealing a career defined by courage, resilience, and compassionate care. Robin's experiences demonstrate that while training prepares a nurse, it is lived experience that truly shapes them. An evocative and meaningful read."
- Dr. Carol Piercey
