‘Genius on the Edge’, by Gerald Imber, M.D.
I wrote about Dr. William Halsted’s life achievements, and about his vices, in the post https://witoldniesluchowski.com/how-did-a-cocaine-addict-change-surgery-in-america/. The book, Genius on the Edge, is, however, about a different aspect of his life story. It’s about how, out of nowhere, there appeared in Baltimore a medical excellence center. A world-class institution, and a hub for contemporary medical […]
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 […]
Life Lessons
The pessimist complains of the wind; The optimist expects it to change; The realist adjusts the sails. William Arthur Ward
It’s not the critic who counts
I see this everywhere. The commentators. Political, economic, sports, social, scientific. They all make a living from someone else’s ideas, work and sweat. Someone else’s years of work, preparations, and risk-taking. Austerities. And then exposing his or her creations to the world. The commentators can make or break your career. There are always more critics […]
A Word About Puzzles
Recently a friend of mine wrote his first blog. https://puzzlingdotblog.wordpress.com/ We started our conversations in jacuzzi in our fitness club. They were as quirky as unusual was our meeting place. The noise in hot tub limits parts of conversations. But you know from the beginning what some people are born writers. For me, conditio sine […]
My Journey as a Writer
How did I become a writer? By the end of my hospital life, I’ve decided what I wanted in the retirement. With a sudden ‘But of course!’ writing became a major interest of mine. In time, it gradually dominated most of my days’, and sometimes nights’, hours. The learning process took time, but now the […]
Announcing My New Website
First, it was this lingering and then growing feeling that the old website just, well, got old. We lived together for five years, and it served me faithfully, just like my first car. But then I moved on with my writing and the time came for an upgrade. I decided to trade it in for […]
How Many of the Earthly Possessions Do We Need
While they were getting older, I realized my parents’ future looked grim in Poland. The communism maintained its tight grip on the economy and politics. The unrest past the brewing point and spilled on the streets. Everyday survival got to be a challenge. Moreover, their medical care was compromised. They didn’t complain, but I knew […]
Forty-five years of cardiac surgery
In my gym, I meet the best people, and have the most interesting conversations, in the jacuzzi. It’s located in a corner of the large pool area and surrounded by a huge bay window extension. The sun is abundant, the water seems tropical, and, if I would drink, I would only ask for little drinks […]
