Medical Biography

Wie ist es, seit fünfzig Jahren mit einem Pfeifton im Ohr zu leben? Und: Woher kommt er überhaupt? Wie kann eine Einladung zum "Literarischen Quartett" zu einer Knieverletzung führen? Wie bricht man sich beim Meditieren einen Knochen? Axel Hacke weiß es und erzählt in diesem Buch die Geschichte und Geschichten seines eigenen Körpers, vom Standpunkt eines Mannes in der zweiten Hälfte der Sechziger aus gesehen: Es geht um die Gebrechen, aber auch um die Triumphe des Körpers und um das große, nie nachlassende Staunen über das Funktionieren desselben.

Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo shares the inspiring story of how he came to be who he is. After experiencing abuse as a child, Dr. Ladapo was incapable of connecting emotionally with other people. He was dissociated from virtually everything in his life and numbly powered through college, medical school, and residency to become a doctor and university professor. It wasn’t until he fell in love with his wife that he was forced to come face-to-face with the enormous emotional and spiritual disruption caused by his deeply buried trauma.

Every parent's nightmare... It happens in an instant. A fall, a splash, a moment of inattention. 'Lessons from the Sky' shares gripping true stories from air medical transport, revealing the everyday dangers that threaten young children. Flight nurse practitioner David Kaniecki and his colleagues have witnessed firsthand the devastating impact of childhood accidents – the frantic calls, the desperate races against time, the mix of relief and heartbreak in the faces of parents. In this book, they share those stories, offering valuable insights to help you prevent these tragedies.

Experience the heart-pounding drama of real-life emergencies. Veteran EMT and physical therapist Andrea Jo Rodgers shares this all-new collection of accounts from her 30-plus years as a volunteer with her town's local first aid and emergency squad.

When Jane, a world-famous Harvard oncologist, suddenly collapses at work, the medical team resuscitating her makes a shocking discovery: she has advanced breast cancer that she’s been hiding for years. The results are catastrophic. In Sickness shows how even the most rational people can be nearly destroyed by their irrational fears. Tragic, moving, and wryly funny at times, this is an unflinching portrayal of a complicated marriage and its secrets.

From medical expert Leana Wen, MD, Lifelines is an insider's account of public health and its crucial role - from opioid addiction to global pandemic - and an inspiring story of her journey from struggling immigrant to being one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.

The Lady Whose Mouth I Set on Fire: True Tales from the ER is a collection of amazing, strange, bizarre stories revealing the world of the ER. They are firsthand stories told by an old, tired physician who has survived three decades in this odd, but exciting world of life and death. They are heartwarming, heart-wrenching, hilarious, or fascinating.

When her six-year-old daughter found her collapsed on the kitchen floor, Rachel had no idea how much her life was about to change. A brain scan revealed a dark shadowy mass, a huge abnormal growth of tissue that, whilst benign, was still growing and would surely kill her. It was too big to operate on. It needed to be "managed", and Rachel had, at best, two years to live. Refusing to accept the bleak prognosis, Rachel was determined to stay alive.

When Lorna Crozier and Patrick Lane met at a poetry workshop in 1976, they had no idea that they would go on to write more than 40 books between them, balancing their careers with their devotion to each other, and to their beloved cats, for decades. Then, in January 2017, their life together changed unexpectedly when Patrick became seriously ill. Despite tests and the opinions of many specialists, doctors remained baffled. There was no diagnosis and no effective treatment plan. The illness devastated them both.

The searing intimacy of Girl, Interrupted combined with the uncomfortable truths of The Empathy Exams in a collection of essays chronicling one woman’s experiences as both patient and caregiver, giving a unique perspective from both sides of the hospital bed.

At the age of 38, Danish scientist Rikke Schmidt Kjærgaard is struck down by an acute bout of bacterial meningitis. Weeks later, she wakes from a coma in intensive care to find herself “locked in,” unable to show she is conscious except by blinking her eyes. Despite a mere 5 percent chance of survival, she makes a miraculous recovery and returns to the world - painfully learning how to breathe, move, eat, and speak again, even resume her work as a scientist.

Diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Jeff Sutherland lost his abilities to walk and speak within two years and, confined to a wheelchair, was forced to retire from his life's work as a physician at 43. Not long after, he was locked in his own inanimate body, unable to eat, drink, or breathe without assistance. His meals were delivered through a feeding tube, and a ventilator controlled his lungs through an opening in his throat. The only parts of his body he was able to move voluntarily were his eyes.

In the fall of 1995, Dr. Saray Stancic was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. By 2003, she walked regularly with a cane, had given up virtually all unnecessary physical activity, and was on numerous medications, all with horrible side effects. After stumbling upon some studies that linked MS outcomes to diet and lifestyle, Dr. Stancic undertook a radically different approach to managing her illness.

Lange Zeit fragt sich Angelina Boerger: Bin ich einfach chaotisch und kann nicht gut mit Stress umgehen oder steckt vielleicht mehr dahinter? Mit Ende 20 erhält sie schließlich die Diagnose "AD(H)S im Erwachsenenalter" und ist erleichtert: Endlich hat die Kirmes in ihrem Kopf einen richtigen Namen. Schätzungsweise 2,5 Millionen Erwachsene sind in Deutschland von der Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung, kurz AD(H)S, betroffen. Die Symptome bei Erwachsenen sehen in der Regel anders aus als bei Kindern, und auch das Bild des klassischen "Zappelphilipps" ist längst überholt.

After knowing friends with anorexia and being baffled by their behavior, Laura Moisin suddenly found herself prone to the same disease - not eating at all and going weeks at a time consuming nothing but water and the occasional black coffee. Deceiving therapists by misleading them with symptoms of depression, her anorexia is prolonged, and her health deteriorates rapidly.

In the early days of the Cold War, a spirit of desperate scientific rivalry birthed a different kind of space race: not the race to outer space that we all know, but a race to master the inner space of the human body. While surgeons on either side of the Iron Curtain competed to become the first to transplant organs like the kidney and heart, a young American neurosurgeon had an even more ambitious thought: Why not transplant the brain?

In March 2020, soon-to-graduate medical students in New York City were nervously awaiting “match day” when they would learn where they would begin their residencies. Only a week later, these young physicians learned that they would be sent to the front lines of the desperate battle to save lives as the coronavirus plunged the city into crisis. In this powerful book, New York Times journalist Emma Goldberg offers an up-close portrait of six bright yet inexperienced health professionals, each of whom defies a stereotype about who gets to don a doctor’s white coat.

In "The Work of My Mother’s Hands: A Caregiver’s Journey," delve into the profound challenges and transformative moments defining caregiving. Through heartfelt narratives, explore the unseen labor, emotional, and physical demands caregivers endure. From diagnosis to tough decisions, the author shares a deeply personal narrative, offering solace and guidance.

At first glance, Anthony Chin-Quee looks like a traditional success story: a smart, ambitious kid who grew up to become a board-certified otolaryngologist—an ear, nose, and throat surgeon. Yet the truth is more complicated. As a self-described “not white, mostly Black, and questionably Asian man,” Chin-Quee knows that he doesn’t fit easily into any category. Growing up in a family with a background of depression, he struggled with relationships, feelings of inadequacy, and a fear of failure that made it difficult for him to forge lasting bonds with others.

So your husband is going to die. Now what? Some Assembly Required chronicles the 10-month adventure of a couple living through the worst of times like it's the best of times. It's a story about having heart when what you really need is a brand new liver.