Synopsis

 

Today we see crime, abuse, alcoholism, drugs, anger, and anxiety everywhere. Jails and prisons are crammed on an industrial scale. Recovery centers are packed with patients. Extreme political and religious groups regularly trap more members. Too many schools are simply factories for dropouts. All of this is the result of unresolved trauma. Ultimately, the quality of our lives depends on our ability to successfully process our heartbreaks and catastrophes. By college age, 66% to 85% of all people have been impacted by at least one traumatic experience. COVID has arguably traumatized everyone.

In Post-Traumatic Thriving, we follow the journey from the depths of the initial shock to the pinnacle of ultimate healing and growth. This book interweaves advanced science with the stories of people who have not just survived, but used their trauma as the fuel to thrive:

• A devoted wife and mother, Debbie discovers that her husband―who died of suicide―led a double life
• Leo lost an eye and his hearing in two separate accidents
• When only 17, JC was convicted of murder and sent to San Quentin prison for life
• Ron, a gifted athlete whose dreams of Olympic glory were dashed • Susan, whose luxury home was demolished by a landslide
• John was living an idyllic island life when his daughter was killed by nuclear fallout
• Erica was a young Hungarian girl whose life was brutalized by the Nazis
• Tonya’s sister―her sweet, caring, innocent sister―was horrifically murdered
• Born with cerebral palsy, Geri fought bullies and rampant discrimination
• Joe longed for a relationship with his father, but the Mafia got to his father first
• And finally, a little boy who learned that only open-heart surgery would save him – He is Dr. Randall Bell, the author of this book These people not only faced their trauma but thrived in remarkable ways.

Post-Traumatic Thriving bridges the iconic work of Dr. Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief and the pioneering work of Dr. Richard G. Tedeschi and Dr. Lawrence G. Calhoun involving trauma and growth. This is the ideal companion book for therapists and patients alike. When trauma hits, your most significant decision will be to dive, survive, or thrive. If you choose to thrive, this book is for you. The principles have the power to change the world. If that doesn’t happen, at least they will change your world.

 

 

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Praise

 

Never has there been a more impactful book, at a more needed time than this one. Post-Traumatic Thriving offers the latest information on the science of trauma, how to overcome traumatic events, while offering real life stories of resilience from survivors. While we all experience trauma in one form or another, this book will teach you not only how to survive life, but how to thrive! – Marianne Pestana (Former Producer at PBS & Host of Moments with Marianne – iHeart Radio)  

Written with both frankness and compassion, Dr. Bell’s guide is simultaneously scientific and holistic, lending readers a path not only for getting through trauma, but also achieving their highest potential because of it. – Vicki Pepper (Radio Host & Reporter – KFRG-FM)

This book could not have come at a better time – offering a lifeline of hope to a world facing trauma. It is a must read. In this you’ll discover practical solutions and life-changing insight to not only help yourself, but others. – Eleisha Foon (Reporter – Radio New Zealand) 

 

 

About the Author

 

As a socio-economist, Dr. Randall Bell has consulted on more disasters on earth than anyone in history. Dr. Bell is widely considered the world’s top authority in the field of post-traumatic thriving. His clients include the Federal Government, State Governments, International Tribunals, major corporations and homeowners. Dr. Bell believes that “the problem is not the problem — the problem is how we react to the problem.”

Often called the “Master of Disaster,” he is squarely focused on authentic recovery and resilience. Dr. Bell’s research has been profiled on the Today Show, Good Morning America, every major television station, BBC Radio, Success Magazine, Forbes, Inc. Magazine and the international media.

 

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Synopsis

 

When Allison began to care for her mother with Alzheimer’s, she started to ask some difficult questions. At what point is a life no longer worth living? Would dementia be in her future too?

Worried that her mother’s fate may be her own, Allison comes up with an unusual approach to try and control her own demise: start smoking. After all, she would rather die of cancer or a lung infection than the way her mother did—unable to recognize her own family, to take care of herself, or even speak. The tough part will be getting her family and friends on board with her new perspective.

Full of compassion for both Alzheimer’s victims and those it affects—caregivers, family, and loved ones—Allison’s Gambit brings a taboo topic to the forefront and asks us all—what would we do?

 

 

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Excerpt

 

Chapter 2

 

Considering I had a front-row seat for my father’s last days, it might seem ironic that I took up smoking. The fact is, my habit has nothing to do with him and everything to do with my mom, Nancy MacPherson. Now they have both passed away, and I smile when I think of my father. The emotions I go through when I think of my mother are complicated. On a good day, I manage a slight smile, but on most days, I just feel relief that she finally died.

Now it is so clear that, despite knowing what my father went through, if I had to choose a death, I would choose his in an instant. He died; my mom suffered. Actually, that’s not exactly true—everybody else around her suffered.

It must come across as callous to those who don’t know what happened, but my mom’s dementia caused a suffering like no other. It made me realize that there are different ways to die. I won’t say I became fixated on death; I just became aware it was going to happen, which I know sounds stupid. We all know we are going to die. It’s just…we don’t think about it. We push it into the recesses of our minds. But somehow I know I’m destined to die like my mom. And I have consciously decided to try and alter that reality. Why die of Alzheimer’s when you can die of something else—anything else?

I have generally learned not to express my uncommon beliefs, so they won’t attract disdain. No one enjoys opening themselves up for criticism and feeling like an emotional punching bag. Reticence seems the wiser option. But I have decided to change that and tell my story despite realizing that many will look at me like I am a pariah. If this diary were a YouTube video, I would likely have far many more thumbs-down than thumbs-up. How do I know this? Because this is not my first foray into asking the world to pass judgment on my feelings.

Though you have probably already learned this lesson, don’t say anything political or controversial on social media. Random people you don’t even know will actually threaten you because you provided tips on how to save water. Water! I wish I were making this up, but I speak from experience.

I’m sure the same surprise hits people after they post their first video on a public site, maybe of their six-year-old daughter at a ballet recital. The social-media affirmation complex doesn’t make

up for the rather surprising number of thumbs-down they receive. It’s enough to make you question yourself. “Maybe she isn’t such a good dancer? Perhaps I should have made her practice more.”

Now that it has been a while since my mom passed away, emerging from my cocoon seems imperative somehow, and there doesn’t seem to be a minute more to lose. I need to reach out to all of those other caregivers who are like me. I realize now that I have not only been grieving; I have been avoiding the well-wishers who often leave me more depressed. But mostly I have been avoiding telling my family and friends about my philosophy.

It is time to tell my story and convince at least my friends that I have something to offer from my experience. I am stronger now emotionally. I’m ready to take on the world, even the strangers who will pleasantly yell at me, “Just shut up and die already.”

 

From Allison’s Gambit Copyright C.A. Price, 2021

 

 

Q&A with C.A. Price

 

If you knew that dementia was in your future, would it change how you lived now?

 

This question is not too dissimilar to “If you knew when you were going to die…?” The response, however, could be different if one considered being alive with dementia worse than death itself, which is the presumption made by Allison in the book.

It would be fair to say that until we get to a certain point, we aren’t sure how we would answer the question. But the goal of the novel is to challenge the reader into doing this thought experiment for themselves. And the true hope, we realize at the end, is that the author WANTS people to live their life differently. What this means for each person can be quite different. But a personal example I wish to share: I am a father of an amazing eighteen-year-old young man. I am also a dedicated physician. I can’t tell you how many meetings I have sat through that I found to be a waste of my time. In the past, I would politely sit them out. After writing this novel, I began to just get up and walk out, returning home to my son and enjoying his company.

 

As nursing homes seem not to be desired by anyone, can you imagine a better way to care for the elderly?

 

I think that nursing homes are a necessary part of our lives as we age. But there is a stigma about nursing homes that likely would be different if we changed our philosophy about dying. I know this will likely be controversial, but I do feel that if we were more comfortable with death, we would choose comfort care and hospice much more frequently. Nursing homes would still exist, but I don’t presume they would feel as depressing. I think they would feel more vibrant as we would move to celebrating the end of someone’s life, rather than prolonging it at all costs.

 

Why do families take so long to choose hospice when they overwhelmingly feel more at peace once they do?

 

I think if you asked ten hospice volunteers this question you would receive ten different answers. There would, however, likely be a few themes. There is a cultural fear of dying. Further, a sense of failure when it occurs.

I recall first coming to understand this as a resident. While working in the Intensive Care Unit, you might start with six patients when you took over that evening. If all six were alive in the morning, this was a success. Even if one or two died within hours of you being off shift! Death on your shift was a sign of failure. Similarly for families, not trying every single treatment, medicine, etc. is felt to be “giving up.” “How dare you suggest that we stop trying?”

What I hoped to leave the reader with was a sense of how we remember our loved ones. What I have found is that if we remember them as feeble, incapable, in pain, it can detract from who they were for the majority of their life. Further, when we start to imagine ourselves this way, patients universally seem to say, “I don’t want to live like that.” In other words, part of the goal in writing this book is to shine light on this paradox. When we think about what we want done for ourselves we seem to universally embrace the concept of hospice. However, for our loved ones, we seem burdened with a sense of guilt in not doing enough.

 

Why did you feel the need to write this book? For example, do you hope that it will help someone who is in this caregiver position feel like they’re not alone?

 

There are several reasons I began to write, but only one reason I decided to publish. The reasons I began to write came from my shock at the unusual choice of my patient—planning to continue to smoke so she wouldn’t live long enough to suffer from dementia. The shock evolved to interest as I explored this philosophy with writing. Writing helped me explore my own thoughts about dying. And oddly, this led to a recognition that I wanted to start living differently as a result. When I got to the end of the book I recognized that I had a great deal of sympathy and understanding for Allison. I realized that no matter what is going to happen to me in the end, I wanted to live my life differently NOW.

Why I decided to publish is that I began to realize the difficulty with caregiving. The physical and mental toll it can take on an entire family. I started to realize there are few services for this and even fewer conversations. It has become my belief that until we start having real conversations about our feelings, the guilt, the physical burden that often prompts moving to a nursing home, we aren’t going to get any better. I really want this book to begin a conversation that screams we must do better. This can’t simply remain part of life that will work itself out. And we can’t leave cost out of the conversation. I can’t tell you how often I have felt that if families had to pay five percent of the cost of treatment they would suddenly have a change of heart when it came to demanding that all must be done.

 

What have been your personal experiences with elder care, Alzheimer’s, and caregiving?

 

Perhaps the best decision I made was to start doing home visits. And yes, I seem to feel I’m the only physician who does them. This allows me to get three different perspectives:

–Seeing patients in my office

–Seeing patients in nursing homes (or assisted living)

–Seeing patients in their own home

 

Home visits are incredibly interesting and rewarding. The love people show is different than any other environment. For this reason alone, I can never imagine not doing home visits.

One thing that complicates dementia is that medical insurance doesn’t pay for caregiving when a person is not “homebound.”  If they don’t have a “medical need” such as wound care, requiring IV antibiotics, or they are so debilitated it would be great difficulty to leave the home…there is little nursing care that can be obtained. Patients with dementia often don’t need any of these things, and yet they require full time care, including during the night when they can be particularly active.

I find that by going to a patient’s home I can far better assess the difficulties shared by the caregivers. I think it has given me greater empathy and a recognition that there is a big gap in potential care for those with Alzheimer’s.

Another thing that happened early on in my career was understanding and appreciating the role of hospice care, which has evolved to now include supportive care. Briefly I’ll explain the difference: Hospice asks the physician to give a diagnosis and an expectation that a patient has less than six months to live. Supportive care also asks for a diagnosis—typically one of only a few such as heart failure, kidney failure or cancer—and that “it wouldn’t be surprising if your patient didn’t live for more than a year.”

What’s absolutely amazing about both is that their statistics completely surprise everyone. With hospice, those who join tend to live LONGER than their counterparts that don’t. With supportive care, the overall happiness is greater and the cost of care is lower.

What I would like to see is a greater move to accepting “supportive care” for other diagnoses such as dementia. This would allow nurses, caregivers, spiritual therapy, psychotherapy for patients that would get paid. Right now this is not the case. Why this tends to be cheaper is that families begin to accept the dying process differently. They recognize that this care, the socialization, the comfort is more desired than another trip to the emergency room or ICU.

 

 

About the Author

 

C.A. Price is a family practice physician in California. The philosophy of Allison’s Gambit was inspired by patients of his who have been caregivers to those with dementia and his continued observation that these family members often end up with tremendous guilt. His work with hospice has taught him that those who change their views about dying seem to live so much better. It is his first novel.

 

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Synopsis

 

In the shadows of New York City’s North Brother Island stand the remains of a shuttered hospital and the haunting memories of quarantines and human experiments. The ruins conceal the scarred and beautiful Cora, imprisoned there by contagions and the doctors who torment her. When Finn, a young urban explorer, arrives on the island and glimpses the enigmatic woman through the foliage, intrigue turns to obsession as he seeks to uncover her past–and his own family’s dark secrets. Nolden skillfully intertwines North Brother Island’s horrific and elusive history with a captivating tale of love, betrayal, survival, and loss.

 

 

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Review

 

Lately, I have enjoyed reading books that tie actual places and events to fictional stories. I appreciate learning about places I have not been and the impact they had on the world at that time. This is the case in this debut novel and North Brother Island in New York and the facilities that were located on the island in the early to mid-1900s.  The facilities sheltered the sick and mentally ill and probably the most famous person housed there that most people know is Typhoid Mary. There is also a reference to a ship that caught fire and many died not able to escape the blaze or drowned in the river.

The story focuses on Cora, a young woman that is brought to the island with her sister to hopefully isolate them from spreading disease until they are well. However, what ensues is lifelong imprisonment for Cora and subjected to the whims of the Gettler men who happened to be doctors on the island.

The story flips between the past and the present and while it seems unbelievable, it also held me captive wondering how things could have happened as they did and how did Cora survive the cruel and unusual behavior of the doctors on the island? Why did she not try and leave? The answer to that question might blow your mind.

I don’t want to reveal too much, but there are some events that shocked and surprised me and also broke my heart knowing what Cora went through. She may be a tough woman on the outside, but she still endured emotional and physical pain that most would not have survived.

When I got to the end, it is revealed that there will be a sequel to follow. This is good because there is quite a cliffhanger at the end and I have to know what happens next for Cora and all of the Gettler men. Will they change their ways? How will it impact their families? Inquiring minds want to know.

I am giving this book 5 paws up. There are times when the story drags a little bit but overall this story held my attention and left me wanting more.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

A graduate of the University of Minnesota, Shelley Nolden is an entrepreneur and writer, now residing in Wisconsin. Previously, she lived in the New York City area, where she worked on Wall Street and first learned of North Brother Island. At the age of 31, Shelley was diagnosed with leukemia and completed treatment three years later. The sense of isolation and fear she experienced during her cancer ordeal influenced her spellbinding debut novel, THE VINES.

 

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Synopsis

 

Plastic surgeon Lou Edwards’s life is complicated by two major issues.

One, his wife has lupus, possibly due to leaking silicone from breast implants Edwards himself inserted. And two, his malpractice insurance has been canceled, as it has been for many other plastic surgeons, due to the burgeoning breast implant problem.

But it gets worse.

Shortly after Edwards threatens an insurance company president on national TV, the president is found murdered in his penthouse.

Dr. Jim Bob Brady once again finds himself doing a bit of investigating, this time on behalf of a colleague. But how well does he know this colleague? Is the investigation worth the threat to Jim Bob’s own life? Will he discover that it was a burglary gone bad? A lover’s quarrel? Or is this an act of revenge?

 

 

 

 

Excerpt

 

Act of Revenge: A Medical Thriller

by John Bishop, MD

Chapter 2

 

Monday, February 10, 1997

 

“JIM BOB! Jim Bob? Can you hear me?”

I was stunned but not unconscious. My first concern was that I had sustained another head injury. I had been mugged a year and a half ago and had spent ten days in a coma after developing a subdural hematoma, a collection of blood between my brain and skull requiring surgery. The hair on my shaved head had taken seemingly forever to grow back out to a length and texture I could brush. I wasn’t prepared to go through all that again.

“I’m okay, I think,” I said to Mary Louise. She was kneeling down over me, skis off. “Thanks for not being in front of me. I might have hit you, too. Where’s the guy I ran into?”

“He’s up the hill. I’ll go check on him.” And with that, she headed back up the slope.

Since I had landed face down in the snow, I used my corduroy cap to clean off my goggles and face in an attempt to see what was going on. I was partially buried in the foot-high drift, but when I assessed that my extremities were intact and my vision was relatively normal, I managed to turn myself around.

I sat up and saw my wife kneeling down over the man I had run into twenty yards behind me. One ski was off, and the other was twisted about 45 degrees, half-buried in the snow. Unfortunately, his leg was still attached to it. My skis had come undone, and God only knew where they had landed. Probably in someone’s condo.

I had heard of a ski accident that occurred on the same slope wherein a crash between two skiers had resulted in a lost ski sailing down the hill and crashing through a picture window into the living room of a residence. No one was hurt, at least in the home, but I’m sure it gave them quite a start. And some decent kindling.

I abandoned my ski poles, which had still been attached to my wrists with their adjustable loops, and stepped up the hill to join Mary Louise and the unknown assailant. A thought crossed my mind that perhaps I was the unknown assailant. Whatever the situation, I hoped the man had experienced enough of a shock to render him an amnesiac but not unconscious or damaged.

“Are you okay?” Mary Louise was asking him repeatedly as I arrived on the scene. Several other skiers had gathered as well and had already placed their skis in the ground, tips up and crossed, the universal sign of an injury requiring the ski patrol’s attention.

The man was on his side. His eyes were open.

“Listen,” I said, “I’m a doctor. I need to check your pupils and your arms and legs. Don’t be frightened. Okay?”

He nodded.

His pupils reacted normally to light. I felt his neck.

“Any pain here?” I asked as I gently moved his cervical spine from side to side. “Any numbness? Arms or legs?”

He shook his head. “My leg . . . killing me.”

“I’m sure. I’ll get down there in a minute.”

The man’s arms, chest, head, spine, and right leg all seemed to be in working order. It was time to address the crucial issue.

“Listen,” I explained, “my name is Jim Brady. I’m an orthopedic surgeon from Houston. I need to check out this left leg and try to decide if you’ve got a fracture in your femur or tibia or if you’ve got a knee ligament injury. I may not be able to tell, but I’d like to try before the ski patrol arrives. Okay?”

“I don’t want you to move it. Hurts too bad.”

“Well, the medic will have to move it to get you onto the stretcher. Your leg’s kind of twisted out at an angle. If I can figure out what’s wrong, I may be able to make you more comfortable by moving it. Let me try.”

He nodded. I gently felt his femur, the thigh bone, with both hands. No pain. Same with the tibia and fibula, the two bones connecting the knee to the ankle. When I felt his knee, however, even through his bulky, waterproof ski pants, I could feel the enlarged joint. He winced.

“It’s your knee, probably a ligament tear. If I can get your ski off and straighten out the leg, you’ll feel a lot better. I want you to hang on for a minute.”

“Man, it’s killing me! Just leave it alone!”

I paused, then slid down toward his boot release, had Mary Louise support the ski to minimize the torque, and unsnapped his boot from the binding. He moaned for a second, but I quickly untwisted the leg, brought it parallel to the other, and laid it down.

“Damn it! I told you not to—huh. Feels better.”

“See,” I said, “you should have trusted me.”

“Sort of hard to trust a guy who runs you over, wouldn’t you say?”

I assumed amnesia wasn’t going to be a problem for him.

Two members of the ski patrol arrived on separate snowmobiles pulling stretchers. One of them had probably been intended for me. I was glad to decline it. I helped the medics get my victim onto the stretcher and bind him down to minimize the shock of the journey to Snowmass Ski Clinic. I felt obligated to accompany them.

“Are you by yourself? Is there anyone we can notify?” Mary Louise asked. “I’ll be glad to make a call. Whatever you need.”

“Guess you better call my wife, tell her I’m hurt. I hate to upset her, though.”

“Where are you staying?” she asked him.

“Wood Run Condos. Just down the hill. I was headed home.”

“So were we,” Mary Louise said. “Why don’t I just run by there. We’re at the Chamonix. You’re only a block or so away. How would that be?”

He nodded and sort of smiled. “That’d be real nice, ma’am. I’d appreciate that.”

She looked at him for a minute, waiting. “I need your name and condo number,” she said patiently, like a schoolteacher waiting for a third grader to figure out the times tables.

“Oh, sure. Sorry. I’m Lou Edwards. Her name’s Mimi. We’re in 530 Wood Run. And thanks.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Mary Louise said, looking at me like she was very glad I was okay, but not happy that I had run over the poor man. I didn’t blame her.

 

Excerpted from Act of Revenge: A Doc Brady Mystery. Copyright © 2020 by John Bishop MD. All rights reserved. Published by Mantid Press.

 

 

About the Author

 

John Bishop MD is the author of Act of Revenge: A Doc Brady Mystery. Dr. Bishop has practiced orthopedic surgery in Houston, Texas, for 30 years. His Doc Brady medical thriller series is set in the changing environment of medicine in the 1990s. Drawing on his years of experience as a practicing surgeon, Bishop entertains readers using his unique insights into the medical world with all its challenges, intricacies, and complexities, while at the same time revealing the compassion and dedication of health care professionals. Dr. Bishop and his wife, Joan, reside in the Texas Hill Country.

 

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Synopsis

 

It begins with numbness on her left leg. Then it spreads. Even though an MRI finds a “mass” on her brainstem, it takes two more years for Meredith O’Brien to learn what is causing that numbness. Months after her 65-year-old mother dies from a fast-moving cancer, weeks after her father is hospitalized and she experiences an unexpected job change, she learns she has multiple sclerosis.Suddenly, Meredith, a married mother of three teens, has to figure out how to move forward into a life she no longer recognizes. Reimagining her life as a writer and an educator, as a mother and a spouse, she has to adjust to the restrictions MS imposes on her. It is a life, altered.

 

 

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Read a book feature in the Boston Globe

 

Excerpt

 

This excerpt from Uncomfortably Numb takes place a month after Meredith O’Brien was hospitalized after a massive multiple sclerosis attack and officially diagnosed with the incurable disease of the central nervous system. She and her husband Scott were heading to a Boston Red Sox game on a hot and humid evening.

 

From Uncomfortably Numb (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, 2020) by Meredith O’Brien:

 

Walking down Boylston Street on this September evening, in this new period of my life, I’m not thinking about the majestic view of Fenway Park’s grass because the muscles in my usually sturdy legs feel as though they’ve been infused with jelly. I am sweating even though we’re not walking that fast. Tiny white spots are beginning to crowd my peripheral vision, like my own private showing of shooting stars that linger and flicker, nothing upon which I can make a wish. If I had been a cartoon character, my head would have floated upward, tethered by a thin, sinuous cord of damaged nerves. I would look down on myself from above and watch as my gait becomes almost comically unsteady, like I am awkwardly sloshing forward through knee-high water. But Boylston Street is not flooded. That ridiculously-named MS hug starts to squeeze my abdomen and my breathing becomes labored. I stop walking, bend at the waist, and brace my arms against my knees. Scott — who doesn’t understand what’s happening, because I haven’t told him that my body feels as though it’s being rapidly short-circuited — offers to buy me a bottle of water from one of the street vendors who are positioned around the route to the ballpark, sitting atop beat-up coolers piled high with ice. Some noisy pedi-cabs, clanging their tinkling bells, pass by.

“You want to get one?” Scott asks, pointing to a pedi-cab. He’s not very good at masking his concern. Given the events of the past several weeks, his concern is not that surprising. “If you don’t feel well, we can get one.”

He’s in problem-solving mode, hero-mode. And I’m having none of it. Hopping into a pedi-cab feels like an admission of failure, like a modified version of the ambulance ride to take me to Fenway because I can’t get there of my own volition like I always have before. I stubbornly refuse to give in to my body’s warning signs, even though reason is telling me I should take a break, that missing the beginning of the game isn’t a big deal, that getting a ride isn’t a sign of weakness.

I am not being reasonable. I come from obstinate stock. I shake off Scott’s offer as I remain hunched over and quiet. We are nearly equidistant from the Prudential Center parking garage and Fenway Park, stuck in between my former life and my new one. My reluctance to move forward into uncertainty is rooting me in place, paralyzing me.

 

 

About the Author

 

A journalism faculty member at Northeastern University, where she also serves as a writing coach, this is her fourth book. Her third, Mr. Clark’s Big Band, won an Independent Book Publisher Award and was a finalist for a ForeWord INDIES award.

 

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Synopsis

 

Doc Brady became an orthopedic surgeon to avoid being surrounded by death. But now it’s everywhere around him.

One spring day in 1994 Houston, Dr. Jim Bob Brady witnesses his neighbor’s ten-year-old son killed by a hit-and-run driver. An accident, or an act of murder? After the death, Brady enlists the help of his twenty-year-old son J. J. and his wife Mary Louise in chasing down clues that take them deeper and deeper into a Houston he never imagined existed. In the process, they discover a macabre conspiracy stretching from the ivory towers of the largest teaching hospital in Texas, to the upper reaches of Houston’s legal community, to the shores of Galveston.

Doc Brady soon realizes that the old adage remains true: The love of money is the root of all evil.

 

 

 

Check out this first in a new series with books 2 and 3 due out later this year

 

 

Excerpt

 

Chapter 1

 

STEVIE

 

Saturday, March 12, 1994

 

What I remember first about that day was the sound of a sickening thud. It was blended almost imperceptibly with the screeching of tires, both before and after the thud. I had been in the backyard, watering our cherished potted plants and flowering shrubs. As soon as I heard the screech, I dropped the plastic watering bucket and tore down the driveway toward the front yard, thanking God that the electric wrought-iron gate was open, and praying that Mary Louise was not the source of the street sounds.

Although it wasn’t but 150 feet or so from the backyard to the street, it seemed that I was moving in slow motion through a much longer distance. Our neighbor to the right as we faced the street was kneeling down over a small blue lump. I remember initially thinking it was a neighborhood cat or dog with a sweater but as I neared the scene, I saw that the blue lump was Bobbie’s son, Stevie.

Bobbie was screaming, “OH, GOD! Oh, God! Jim Bob, is he all right? OH, GOD, JIM BOB, PLEASE LET HIM BE ALL RIGHT!”

Stevie was not all right. I felt his little ten-year-old wrist for a pulse. Nothing. I felt his left carotid artery. Nothing. I considered rolling him over on his back but was afraid that if he were in shock and not dead, I could paralyze him if his spine were fractured. Some of the other neighbors had arrived by then. I yelled for someone to call 911.

“Can’t you give him mouth-to-mouth or something?” Bobbie had yelled. “You’re a doctor, for God’s sake! DO something! Oh, please, do SOMETHING!” I felt helpless and wished I could do something. Anything. A mother was losing her child, and all my years of medical training were, at that particular moment, useless. I waited with her and tried to keep her from moving Stevie. But how can you keep a mother from trying to shelter, protect, hide, and heal her child? Mostly, I waited with her and Stevie, feeling for his carotid pulse repeatedly, though my touch would not restore it.

It seemed like an eternity before the Houston Fire Department arrived, although later my neighbors would tell me it was only four or five minutes. The paramedics were affected as much as I was by the slight, crushed bundle. Although there was, thankfully, little external bleeding, they must have sensed the lifelessness when they stabilized his neck before gently moving him onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. He seemed so tiny to me as the paramedics deftly intubated Stevie and started an IV running. It appeared they injected his heart, probably with epinephrine, before they electroshocked him. A heartbeat did not register on the monitor.

As I rode in the ambulance with Bobbie and the paramedics, I thanked God that Mary Louise was not the one being resuscitated. I vaguely remembered her running outside during the commotion. Knowing her and her composure and intelligence, she probably had called 911 before I had time to give those instructions. Her gentle hand had rested briefly on my shoulder as little Stevie was loaded into the ambulance. A great woman, my wife. I was glad our only son, J. J., was away at college. At least he couldn’t get run over in front of our house.

“You’re a doc?” asked the least-busy paramedic in the ambulance. I nodded. “Jim Bob Brady.”

All three continued to work on Stevie, attaching monitors, pushing IV drugs, and occasionally using the paddles to try to stimulate his heart into beating.

“What kind?” one of the other paramedics asked.

I thought that was a helluva time to be making small talk. Dead child, or presumably dead child. Mother, semi-hysterical, clinging to me. Ambulance speeding down Kirby, sirens blaring. Who cared what kind of doctor I was! Obviously, not a very good one. I had done nothing to help save that child. At that moment, I felt I should be anything but a doctor.

“Orthopedic surgeon, although this doesn’t seem the time to discuss my career,” I snapped. The comment ensured a silent journey the remaining five or six minutes to Children’s Hospital.

Poor guys. We all become too calloused in the medical and surgical business, seeing murder, mayhem, and tragedy the way we do. But this was my neighbor’s child, and I felt for her. And him. And me.

Fortunately, the traffic was light that Saturday afternoon. Normally, Fannin Street was stop-and-go in the several blocks known as the Texas Medical Center. As the ambulance pulled into the emergency center, people seemed to be everywhere. An injured child draws considerable attention—not that adults don’t, but the Children’s Hospital staff was impressively organized, showing efficiency, compassion, and skill. Within the next thirty minutes or so, they had examined little Stevie and pronounced him dead. Apparently, the trauma team was composed of not only medical personnel but of social workers, ministers, and counselors. Bobbie was shattered, requiring sedation. She was attended to, and I was left to give details of the accident. I fended questions regarding arrangements for the body and all the usual accompanying inquiries in such a situation.

I begged off from the full-frontal assault, explaining that I was a neighbor and had come along for the ride because I was a doctor, in case I could help. No, I didn’t know anything, but if I could make a few calls, I could find some people to answer their questions.

I left the holding area in the back of the emergency room and returned to the lobby through the electric double doors. I assumed the personnel on duty had allowed me to remain in the NO VISITORS area because they had heard from the paramedics that I was a physician. I was surprised, dressed as I was in baggy shorts and a not-so-clean T-shirt. I had been dressed for gardening, not doctoring and death.

The lobby was fairly empty except for a few sick children and their overwrought parents. Not wanting to search for a physician’s lounge and the privacy it would afford, and having left my cell phone at home in the rush, I used a pay phone to call home. I had to borrow a quarter from a phone neighbor.

“Hello?”

“It’s me.”

“How are you holding up?” Mary Louise asked.

“I’m all right, other than feeling useless. Stevie’s dead. Seems he was killed instantly. The chief pediatric surgeon thinks his chest was crushed. Ruptured heart. They’ll have to do an autopsy to know for sure. Bobbie collapsed. They have her on a gurney in one of the exam rooms, sedated. They’ve been incredibly kind and attentive.”

“I feel so sorry for her. Is anyone else there yet?”

“Well, that’s one reason I called. The hospital staff is asking all kinds of questions. The police will want to talk to witnesses. Someone needs to be here who knows more about their personal lives and preferences than I do. Do you know where Pete is?”

“He’s on his way from his office. He’s involved in some big trial that starts Monday. At least that’s what the Mullens told me. I called a few of the neighbors, and they called a few more people, and so on. You know how the network is around here. Bobbie’s sister should be there soon, and Pete, God help him, should be there any minute.” She paused. “Do you want me to come and get you?”

Great, Brady, I thought, you even forgot you have no car.

“No, that’s all right. I’m going to hang out here until I see Pete, or someone else I recognize, and see if I can help out with anything. I’ll see you as soon as I can. Oh, one more thing. I love you. For a long five seconds or so, I thought it might have been you out in the street.”

“I’m still here, sweetie. I love you, too.”

As Stevie’s dad Pete and the others arrived, I basically directed traffic and answered their questions as best I could. When I felt that I had done enough, I walked outside. The paramedics were still hanging around the emergency entrance. I apologized for my rudeness in the ambulance, but they seemed to understand. They kindly offered me a ride home.

On the way, two of the men sat in the back with me and made small talk about the medical world. I asked if either of them smoked. They looked at each other, laughed, then individually brought out their own packs of carcinogens. As we all lit up, I hoped that the oxygen had been turned off.

 

Excerpted from Act of Murder: A Doc Brady Mystery. Copyright © John Bishop. All rights reserved. Published by Mantid Press.

 

About the Author

 

John Bishop MD practiced orthopedic surgery in Houston, Texas, for 30 years. An avid golfer and accomplished piano player, Bishop is honored to have once served as the keyboard player for the rhythm and blues band Bert Wills and the Crying Shames. The Doc Brady medical thriller series is set in the changing environment of medicine in the 1990s. Drawing on his years of experience as a practicing surgeon, Bishop entertains readers using his unique insights into the medical world with all its challenges, intricacies, and complexities, while at the same time revealing the compassion and dedication of health care professionals. Dr. Bishop and his wife, Joan, reside in the Texas Hill Country.

 

Website

Dr. Arthur Spohn:

Surgeon, Inventor, and Texas Medical Pioneer

by

Jane Clements Monday & Frances Brannen Vick

Genre: Non-Fiction / Medical / Texas History / Biography

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Publication Date: September 12, 2018

Number of Pages: 352 pages. 78 b&w photos. Map. 4 Appendices. Index

In this first comprehensive biography of Dr. Arthur Edward Spohn, authors Jane Clements Monday, Frances Brannen Vick, and Charles W. Monday Jr., MD, illuminate the remarkable nineteenth-century story of a trailblazing physician who helped to modernize the practice of medicine in Texas.

Arthur Spohn was unusually innovative for the time and exceptionally dedicated to improving medical care. Among his many surgical innovations was the development of a specialized tourniquet for “bloodless operations” that was later adopted as a field instrument by militaries throughout the world. To this day, he holds the world record for the removal of the largest tumor—328 pounds—from a patient who fully recovered.

Recognizing the need for modern medical care in South Texas, Spohn, with the help of Alice King, raised funds to open the first hospital in Corpus Christi. Today, his name and institutional legacy live on in the region through the Christus Spohn Health System, the largest hospital system in South Texas. This biography of a medical pioneer recreates for readers the medical, regional, and family worlds in which Spohn moved, making it an important contribution not only to the history of South Texas but also to the history of modern medicine.

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Praise

The chapters in the book are mesmerizing…the photographs in the book are priceless and probably cannot be seen by the general public except in this book. This is much more than a biography of Dr. Spohn and his medical triumphs. It is a book about life in South Texas from 1865 to the 1920s and beyond. Dr. Arthur Edward Spohn was part of that history and his contributions to medicine and the development of South Texas have guaranteed his legacy for years to come. This book is the proof. — Dr. Manuel Flores, Texana Reads

This is no dry medical text. Even if you have little interest in the medical field, you’ll be astonished at the life of this accomplished physician and surgeon. — Allison Ehrlich, Corpus Christi Caller Times

Had you asked me 10 years ago or so if I would read a biography and one that focused on a doctor that made strides in his field, my answer probably would have been no.  Not that I wouldn’t have thought that the book would have been good or contain worthwhile information, it just wouldn’t have been my cup of tea.  But as the years go by I find that history and biographies of pioneers are quite fascinating especially when penned by the right authors.

This book captured my interest from the beginning – and that means starting with the preface and acknowledgments all the way to the appendices.  When I think of medicine in the mid to late 1800s, I think of doctors that didn’t care equally about, or for, all of their patients, unsanitary conditions, and using old methods that maybe weren’t the best.  This book changed all of that with Dr. Spohn and his attention to detail, his innovations, and caring deeply for all of his patients no matter who they were or what was wrong with them.  Plus Dr. Spohn wanted other doctors to benefit from his innovations and he took the time to share his knowledge with doctors around the country. He regularly contributed to medical journals (listed in Appendix 1) and sought out new and better ways to treat the ill.

This book is filled with anecdotes about his life, his family, and all those that were close to him.  The family was quite large (as were many families in this time) and it was interesting to see the professions these individuals pursued.  Some were also in medicine and worked with Dr. Spohn at different times.  Not all of this book paints a rosy picture.  There were some trying times for everyone.

Overall this was a very educational book and one that I recommend to anyone especially if they are in or interested in the medical field.  How times have changed in the last 150 years!  We give this 5 paws up.

 

JANE CLEMENTS MONDAY is the author of numerous books and coauthor, with Frances Brannen Vick, of award-winning Petra’s Legacy: The South Texas Ranching Empire of Petra Vela and Mifflin Kenedy and Letters to Alice: Birth of the Kleberg-King Ranch Dynasty. She has served as chair of the Texas State University System Board of Regents and mayor of Huntsville, Texas. She resides in Huntsville.

║ Jane Clements Monday’s Amazon Author Page ║

 

FRANCES BRANNEN VICK is the author or coauthor of numerous books, including Petra’s Legacy and Letters to Alice. She founded E-Heart Press and co-founded the University of North Texas Press. Vick has served as president of the Texas Institute of Letters, the Texas State Historical Association, and the Philosophical Society of Texas. She resides in Dallas.

║ Frances Vick’s Amazon Author Page ║

Check out the other great blogs on this tour

1/15/19	Promo	Hall Ways Blog
1/16/19	Review	Reading by Moonlight
1/17/19	Scrapbook Page	All the Ups and Downs
1/18/19	Guest Post	That’s What She’s Reading
1/19/19	Review	Forgotten Winds
1/20/19	Excerpt	The Clueless Gent
1/21/19	Review	Book Fidelity
1/22/19	Excerpt	Kelly Well Read
1/23/19	Guest Post	Chapter Break Book Blog
1/24/19	Review	StoreyBook Reviews

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HURT
The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care
by
Catherine Musemeche, M.D.

Genre: Medicine / Medical History

Date of Publication: September 6, 2016

Publisher: ForeEdge

# of pages: 268

The heroic story of the invention of trauma care, from battlefield triage to level 1 trauma centers

Trauma is a disease of epidemic proportions that preys on the young, killing more Americans up to age thirty-seven than all other afflictions combined. Every year an estimated 2.8 million people are hospitalized for injuries and more than 180,000 people die.

We take for granted that no matter how or where we are injured, someone will call 911 and trained first responders will show up to insert IVs, stop the bleeding, and swiftly deliver us to a hospital staffed by doctors and nurses with the expertise necessary to save our lives. None of this happened on its own.

Told through the eyes of a surgeon who has flown on rescue helicopters, resuscitated patients in trauma centers in Houston and Chicago, and operated on hundreds of trauma victims of all ages, Hurt takes us on a tour of the advancements in injury treatment from the battlefields of the Civil War to the state-of-the-art trauma centers of today.

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PRAISE FOR HURT: THE INSPIRING, UNTOLD STORY OF TRAUMA CARE

“Musemeche’s fast-paced medical history mixes the gritty reality of treating life-threatening injuries—including her own heart-pounding experiences as surgeon—with an unfettered optimism about what trauma care can now promise: an assurance that most people will survive even a devastating injury.”  —Publishers Weekly

“Hurt is a fascinating journey through the history of trauma care in this country. Musemeche’s unique ability to weave moving, personal stories with intriguing facts takes this book well beyond a great read. It is an education in the human spirit.” —Paul Ruggieri, MD, author of Confessions of a Surgeon and The Cost of Cutting

Educational and Entertaining – two things you may not expect to find in a non fiction book about Trauma Care. Or maybe you would. The information is presented in such a way that it kept me interested from start to finish.

While I know that medical care has come a long way, I never really thought about how traumas are handled in hospitals, or even out in the field. There were so many doctors that fought for better care and better equipment out on the road to help decrease the fatalities from freak accidents. Take ambulances for example – you probably knew that the first ambulances were hearses and that in small towns they did double duty. However, there was no room in back for anyone to help the wounded en route to the hospital. There was an organization called Freedom House that shaped what our EMS has become. The training they had to go through was intense, but they were well prepared to help anyone that needed the assistance.

Or that Sue Baker, a nurse, started looking for trends in accident victims and wrote papers on how some traumas could be avoided – like better seat belts in cars. She even learned to fly a plane to look into why there were so many plane crashes in different parts of the country. Now that is dedication to your job!

Along with the historical aspect of the book, the author shares real life trauma stories that might send chills up and down your body. From the shooting on the UT campus in the mid 60’s to a young woman that was hurt in an accident involving farm equipment. Not all stories have a happy ending, but the different examples show how far trauma care in hospitals has come.

I never expected to enjoy the book as much as I did and the author did a superb job at notating her sources – 30 pages worth in the back of the book. There are a few times where the book seems to stray too far into areas not tied to trauma care (like gun bills and tighter controls), but it just lends itself to the how important trauma care is with how crazy the world has become.

We give the book 5 paws up.

Dr. Catherine Musemeche is a pediatric surgeon, attorney and author who lives in Austin, Texas. She was born and raised in Orange, Texas and attended Lutcher Stark High School. She is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, The University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston, The Anderson School of Management in Albuquerque, New Mexico and The University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. Dr. Musemeche is a former surgery professor at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, the MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and the University of New Mexico where she was the Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Trauma. She currently works in the field of regulatory medicine.

In addition to publishing extensively in the medical literature, Dr. Musemeche has been a guest contributor to the New York Times. Her writing has also been published on NPR.org, KevinMD.com, in the anthology At the End of Life: True Stories About How We Die and in the Journal of Creative Nonfiction.  Her first book, Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery was nominated for the Pen American/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Award and was awarded the Writer’s League of Texas Discovery Prize for nonfiction. Her second book, Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care will be published in September of this year.

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9/28	Review	Forgotten Winds
9/29	Guest Post	Missus Gonzo
9/30	Excerpt	It’s a Jenn World
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10/2	Promo	Blogging for the Love of Authors and Their Books
10/3	Author Interview	All for the Love of the Word
10/4	Review	My Book Fix Blog
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10/6	Excerpt	Syd Savvy
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Title: The Hidden Truth Behind Beautiful Smiles
Author: Zack Zaibak
Publisher: iUniverse
Pages: 152
Genre: Medical/Dentistry
Format: Ebook

Purchase at AMAZON

We are often judged by how we look, and the first thing people notice is a smile. In The Hidden Truth Behind Beautiful Smiles, author Dr. Zack Zaibak tells how modern cosmetic dentistry can transform ordinary smiles into stunning gorgeous ones.

Dr. Zaibak, honored by the Consumers Research Council of America for the last five years as one of America’s top dentists, discusses important issues relating to dental health and improving your teeth, your smile, and your self-esteem. Dr. Zaibak has been featured on national and local media outlets including ABC, WGN Superstation, Fox and Univision, and has served as an expert commentator for the Chicago Sun-Times. He is also a provider of cosmetic dental care to winners of beauty pageants.

People with bright, beautiful, and healthy looking smiles are seen as more attractive, competent, and happier. In fact, a dazzling, radiant smile can make all the difference in romance – as well as career success. In only two visits, you can gain a sparkling white, perfectly shaped, celebrity smile as modern innovations make your dental visit a satisfying, comfortable, and even enjoyable experience.

Dr. Zack Zaibak’s all-inclusive book unveils the hidden truth about today’s state of the art choices in cosmetic dentistry for creating smile makeovers and gorgeous Hollywood Smiles, including Lumineers porcelain veneers, Invisalign metal-free braces, teeth whitening, bonding, implants, crowns, bridges, Snap-On Smiles and gum lifts.

The health of your teeth and mouth affect the well-being of your entire body. The Hidden Truth Behind Beautiful Smiles reveals the secrets to enhancing your teeth to produce an exquisite, engaging smile that will positively transform your self-image and your life.

Zack is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
• One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one $25 Amazon Gift Certificate or Paypal Cash.
• This giveaway begins September 15 and ends on September 26.
• Winners will be contacted via email on Monday, September 29.
• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

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