Witold's Blog

How did a cocaine addict change surgery in America

The year was 1881 and a woman bled after childbirth. The family contacted a young, 29-year-old surgeon. After deliberations, he drew blood from his own vein and transfused it to the patient. The patient recovered. German scientist Karl Landsteiner, with the help of a Polish serologist Ludwik Hirszfelt, discovered and described the ABO blood group

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Does a stressful job shorten your life?

“It’s not stress that kills us, it’s our reaction to it.”―Hans Selye, Hungarian-Canadian endocrinologist, author of “The Stress of Life” Let’s see. Michael DeBakey died 2 months short of 100,Denton Cooley was 96,Francis Robicsek – 94,Domingo Liotta – 97,Viking Björk – 90,Alan Carpentier, alive at 89,Thomas Fogarty, alive at 88,Dwight Harken was 83,Norman Shumway 83,Vincent

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Drama in the Operating Theater now available in paperback

“There’s nothing like a printed book; the weight, the woody scent, the feel, the look.”― E.A. Bucchianeri There comes a next mini-step in publishing the Murano family saga. The paperback is available on Amazon. Here’s the link to the paperback. And here –– to the e-book. Enjoy. Next is the first novel in the series

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What’s new for me in 2023?

These were my thoughts entering 2022: https://bit.ly/3Q50YtD My optimism was clearly justified. There was one significant personal loss in our family. But also 2022 brought exciting changes to my writing. Let me share these with you. I felt my stories were not ready for prime time. And that I could do better. So, I took

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Drama in the Operating Theater

If you can’t find your genre, create one.

MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Oh, really? So when I say: Nicole bring me my slippers and fetch my nightcap,” is that prose? PHILOSOPHY MASTER: Most clearly.MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Well, what do you know about that! These forty years now I’ve been speaking in prose without knowing it!—Molière, The Bourgeois Gentleman, 1670 In the previous post, I wrote about

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How to find readers for your story.

You have to know who your readers are, they say. Then you have to find out how to get to them, they say. Have a picture of your ideal target in your mind, and write for that person. Then write to your reader’s Avatar. It doesn’t work this way for me. I have a story

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The Polish Fight for Freedom

On this day, 83 years ago, a dark cloud descended on Poland. On September 1, 1939, the German hordes invaded our country from the West. Seventeen days later, the Russians completed the job, and marched from the East. Once again, Poland disappeared from the maps of Europe. But, as we say each time singing our

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Is Loneliness Good? Would you rather party or pray?

Our family is blessed. Bonnie’s parents just celebrated their 71st wedding anniversary. What a joy! Or is it? They are still fortunate to be together and stay relatively healthy. And to have a devoted family. But it’s fascinating to think about how the old age changes your social life. I recently came across this article

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What my father’s shaving lessons taught me about life

Be patient, avoid mediocrity and pay attention to details It was his sacrosanct daily morning routine. After getting up, before putting on his suit and leaving for work, and before breakfast was served, my father took the ownership of our kitchen table. We didn’t have hot water in our skimpy bathroom, so water had to

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Drama in the Operating Theater

This is the first book after redesigning my writing career. I am almost ready to hit this ‘Publish’ button, but not yet. Before doing it, I want to let my readers know that the book is coming, create some buzz, and then send the story to the world. First, here’s the book cover. I love

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