Give Peace a Chance

"Ask most surgeons why they became surgeons and they usually tell you the same thing. It was for the high, the rush, the thrill that comes from cutting someone open and saving their life. For me it was different, maybe it was because I grew up in a house with four sisters. No, definitely because I grew up in a house with four sisters because it was the quiet that drew me to surgery. The operating room is a quiet place. Peaceful. It has to be in order for us to stay alert, anticipate complications. When you stand in the OR, your patient open on the table, all the worlds noise, all the worry that it brings disappears. A calm settles over you, time passing without thought. For that moment, you feel completely at peace. Ask most surgeons why they became surgeons and they usually tell you the same thing. The high, the rush, the thrill of the cut. For me it was the quiet. Peace isn’t a permanent state. It exists in moments. Fleeting. Gone before we even knew it was there. We can experience it at any time, in a stranger’s act of kindness, a task that requires complete focus or simply the comfort of an old routine. Everyday we all experience these moments of peace. The trick is to know when they’re happening so that we can embrace them, live in them. And finally let them go."

- Derek Shepherd

 is the seventh episode of the sixth season and the 109th overall episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Short Summary
When Isaac, the hospital lab tech, has an inoperable tumor wrapped around his spine, he turns to Dr. Derek Shepherd to do the impossible, and Derek tests the Chief's authority when Richard objects to moving forward with the risky surgery.

Full Summary
Episode in detail.

Main Cast

 * Ellen Pompeo as Dr. Meredith Grey
 * Sandra Oh as Dr. Cristina Yang
 * Katherine Heigl as Dr. Izzie Stevens (credit only)
 * Justin Chambers as Dr. Alex Karev
 * Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey
 * James Pickens, Jr. as Dr. Richard Webber
 * Sara Ramírez as Dr. Callie Torres
 * Eric Dane as Dr. Mark Sloan
 * Chyler Leigh as Dr. Lexie Grey
 * Kevin McKidd as Dr. Owen Hunt
 * Jessica Capshaw as Dr. Arizona Robbins
 * Patrick Dempsey as Dr. Derek Shepherd

Guest Stars

 * Jesse Williams as Dr. Jackson Avery
 * Nora Zehetner as Dr. Reed Adamson
 * Faran Tahir as Isaac

Co-Starring

 * Mark Saul as Intern Steve

Uncredited

 * Brandon Scott as Dr. Ryan Spalding

Notes and Trivia
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 * This episode's title originated from the song , originally sung by John Lennon.
 * This episode scored 13.74 million viewers.
 * Just before Chief Webber fires Derek, we see him writing on the O.R Board. He was assigning Derek to a crainotomy on a John Doe.
 * This is the first episode to be directed by Chandra Wilson, the actress who portrays Bailey.

Quotes

 * Lexie: Hey, I wore a diaper yesterday, yes. And I will wear one today. If it helps get Dr. Shepherd through this surgery, I will wear a diaper, 'cause my diaper is awesome. My diaper is hardcore. You wish you had the balls to wear my diaper. I'm gonna wear it and I'm gonna wear it with pride. And if I have to pee in it, oh, I'll pee. Because I am surgeon. This is America, and I will do what needs to be done. So, you can kiss my hardcore, diaper-wearing ass.


 * Bailey: You two need to stop bickering, it's unattractive.


 * Derek: You need God. Neuro God, right here.
 * Cristina: Godly? Your entire day consists of putting shunts in people.


 * Cristina: (to Lexie) Hey, you know what, don't try to Lexipedia your way on this. This is my tumor.


 * Bailey: Everyone had said you found the great white of tumors, but I just had to see if for myself.
 * Derek: And now that you have?
 * Bailey: You want my fellow attending answer or my fellow surgeon?
 * Derek: Fellow surgeon.
 * Bailey: This tumor is dangerous, complicated and smart, beautiful. This tumor is the reason why I got into medicine in the first place. To successfully take out this tumor would be an achievement you hang your hat on for the rest of your career. You could retire on this tumor.


 * Derek: Isaac, if I get in there and it looks too dangerous to remove, the responsible thing to do is close you back up.
 * Isaac: No, don't close me up. If you get in and it's too complicated, cut the cord. Paralyze me if you must. I survived a war did you know that? I survived a war where they put bodies in to mass graves where there was once a playground. I survived the death of my family, my parents, my brothers and sisters. Then I survived the death of my wife and child when they starved to death in a refugee camp. I survived the loss of my country, of hearing my mother tongue spoken, of knowing what it feels like to have a place to call home. I survived. And I will survive the loss of my legs. If I have to, I'll survive it. Okay? But Derek, there is always a way when things look like there's no way. There's a way to do the impossible, to survive the in survivable. There's always a way. And you, you and I have this in common. We're inspired. In the face of the impossible, we're inspired. So if I can offer one piece of advice to the world's foremost neurosurgeon. Today, if you become frightened instead become inspired. Okay, I'm ready now. Put me to sleep.


 * Cristina: (about the surgery) No, that is the reason I wanna be down there. Lexie gets to pee in a diaper and I don't.
 * Owen:You want to pee in a diaper?
 * Cristina: Oh, God. No. I want to have to pee in a diaper. To be in surgery so difficult and so long that my only option is to put on a diaper and pee in it.


 * Meredith: I admit it. I'm a surgery junkie.


 * (When the Chief finds out that Derek is performing the spinal surgery on Isaac and Arizona is blocking the door so he can't come in to the operating room.)
 * Arizona: (standing in front of the door) No, no, whoa, whoa, whoa!
 * Richard: Move!
 * Arizona: No!
 * Richard: Dr. Robbins!
 * Arizona: I said no. Dr. Shepherd is operating on the inside of a man's spinal chord right now. Even the most minor disturbance could cause him to make a mistake on that patient- a patient who happens to work here, and whose life I personally would like to see Dr. Shepherd save. So no... you don't get to go in there and be a bully. Not today, Chief, not on my watch.
 * (The Chief turns and walks away; Arizona is in tears)
 * Callie: Okay, I totally thought that was gonna end different. (Arizona starts sobbing on her shoulder) Yeah, more like that.


 * Cristina: (to Owen) Look at your hands, they're hams. Mine are tiny little geniuses.


 * Derek: We can't keep doing this, Richard. I'm tired of fighting you. Let's just put this behind us and move on. I can, if you can.
 * Richard: You're fired. Immediately. Get the hell outta my hospital.
 * Derek: Go home. Sleep on it. We'll talk more tomorrow.