Healthcare
Spirituality, The Other Side Of The Human Life
Peter Attia’s Outlive is for me a personal manual to the human body. But there is another aspect of being alive. And is far more fascinating. I got interested in Wayne Dyer’s writings in the 90′, in the second trimester
How to measure your physical progress in the 80s
If you can’t measure, you can’t manage People still argue, who said it If you have a goal, and commit a significant portion of your energy and time to getting healthy, you have to see the results of your efforts.
How to keep staying vertical in your 80s
In mens sana corpore sano W zdrowym ciele zdrowy duch A healthy mind in a healthy body The Romans knew. Peter Attia calls it the Centenarian Decathlon. I call it long-term planning and persistence. You have to know where to
Emotional Goals to Be Fit at 80
Here are my emotional goals: *By that age, I have to know my strengths and my weaknesses. *I have to be able to listen when the others want just that. *I have to be able to take, not to shift
How to Be Fit at 80
When I think of a fit person at 80, I don’t see a muscular old man with a perfect white beard, showing his biceps and six-pack, boasting 5 percent body fat. No, these people are often gym rats, using all
Is it Good to Live to a 100? Life Span vs Health Span
Methuselah lived to be 969. After the first 100, I imagine, his life had to be miserable. All his peers were gone, and the poor fellow couldn’t find a person to sit in the town’s square and have a cup
Stages Of Life, And How To Live To Get To The Last One .
This year, I am starting my ninth decade of life. And I am proud of each of them. More often than not, people in my age look back on their lives. It’s nothing new. Solon, a Greek lawgiver, and a
Healthcare: Feeding of The Hungry Giant
The complexity of our health care delivery system is at the root of the problem. The chain of care starts with a patient, as it should. It ends with the government devising the policies and providing the funding for the
Why Doctors’ Suicide Rate Is So High
It all starts with the length and the intensity of the medical training. After college, there are years of training in the primary specialty, and more if one wants to subspecialize. In my case, there were 5 years of general
Peter Attia’s ‘Outlive’, a User’s Manual to Life
We all want to live forever. But we also know that our lives in the third trimester won’t be as joyful and carefree like in our first. And not that healthy like in our second. But it doesn’t have to
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
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
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
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
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,
Miracle of the Human Brain
A human brain is the most complicated object in the Universe. If we compare the heart to a pump, skeleton to framing, digestive tract to a chemical factory, a human brain is a sophisticated computer. It’s so advanced, we don’t
Mentors or How to Get Further in Life
Early morning on any beach is a magic time. But the Caribbean beaches are special. The best I’ve ever seen are in the Turks and Caicos. Their sand is as white as snow. Fine Carrara marble powder. Not even a
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
We know very little about our brains.
The human brain is a marvelous creation. The function of our brains fascinates me. But the more I study, the longer I live, fuller I realize how little we know. And this pertains not only to us, but even more
A Misleading, Unnecessary Disclaimer
A disclaimer, frequently found at the beginning of many works of fiction, always puzzled me. “Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual
A Full Spectrum of Surgeons: from Brainiac to Doer
In my last three posts, I wrote about the two gods in American surgery. Cooley and DeBakey. Two personalities who achieved the pinnacle, still being on the opposite ends of the surgical universe. One was a thinker, a planner, and
DeBakey vs Cooley, The Strife of Gods on Olympus
Ostensibly, it was all about the first implantation of an artificial heart. Argentinian surgeon, Domingo Liotta, started to work on the project at the University of Córdoba. And he was not even the first one in the history of medicine.
Michael DeBakey, the Surgeon who Saved His Own Life.
Putting together a puzzle of life, if you start with a piece of an enormous drive to excellence, add a piece of self-discipline, follow it with another piece of resilience, interpose these with a part of impeccable work habits, find
Denton A. Cooley, Bigger than Texas
Modify, simplify, apply Denton A. Cooley, motto of The Texas Heart Institute. A story had circulated about Denton Cooley, the famous Houston-based surgeon and innovator, an exceptionally gifted man. While testifying in court, Dr. Cooley was asked by the opposing
The Plague
The choice seemed perfect. I read James Michener’s Hawaii while on vacations on Kauai and his Poland––knowing history of this country well. Reading Camus’ masterpiece now, when coronavirus is raging, lets me the current events with a different acuity. I
Aging
Recently I’ve attended our fiftieth anniversary of graduation from Warsaw Medical University. Fifty years! Fifty years? At that time I never thought I’ll live that long. Fifty years ago we all gathered in the same city, received navy-blue booklets with
Cardiac Pacemakers
My uncle died in Poland during the implant of his permanent pacemaker. At that time, I was a medical student, and I thought I should be able to understand why did it happen. I couldn’t, and I still don’t. A
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
Why Doctors Commit Suicides
This had happened at the end of one of my surgical boards’ exams, quite a long time ago. The day was long and we were all exhausted. We were also anxious to know if we passed. Years of studies, sacrifices
The Physicians with an Artistic Mind
Recently, I came across of a unique book. This work is a tribute by Dr. Gosta Iwasiuk to his father Vladimir. It’s an anthology of the works of a person, who created a magnificent body of paintings and sculptures. In
How to Deal with Anger like Buddha
One day, the Buddha and a large following of monks and nuns were passing through a village. The Buddha chose a large shade tree to sit beneath, so the group could rest for a while out of the heat. He
Anger in the operating room
This scene looks familiar to most people who ever worked in the operating room. A high-power doctor, say a cardiac surgeon, is doing a long and complicated case. The stakes are high, the chances for complications significant, and he dreads
Story behind the picture
There are no colleges in Poland. In our last year of high school, we had to decide where to continue our education. To help us make a conscious choice, our beloved Latin, French and an ancient history teacher, Mrs. Libera
Would You Have the Courage to Stop Treatment of the Advanced Cancer?
We’ve known each other for close to forty years. She was a good friend of mine and a former wife of my close buddy. I visited her in the delivery room after her son was born. Her marriage didn’t work
How to Take Stress while Doing Surgery
By the end of my medical school, I was set to become a cardiologist. At that time, a prominent cardiology department in Warsaw Medical School even offered me a position. Then I had a conversation about my future with a
Should Surgeons Friend Their Patients on Facebook?
Throughout the history, surgeons not always were held in a high esteem. The first barbers-surgeons in medieval Europe had a terrible reputation. Their job included a wide range of procedures from cutting hair to pulling teeth and amputating limbs. Another
Is a Novel about and by a Cardiac Surgeon Better than One Written by a Layman?
I’ve never liked reading fiction novels. Always thought it was a waste of time. I could learn much more from a good non-fiction book and quite often immediately apply the knowledge into my everyday life. Then I discovered
Would You Like Your Surgeon to be Fast, or Meticulous?
One of the chief fascinations of surgery is the management of wounded vessels and avoidance of hemorrhage. The only weapon with which the unconscious patient can immediately retaliate upon the incompetent surgeon is hemorrhage. If he bleeds to death, it
Anger in the Operating Room
Anyone can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way – that is not in everybody’s power and that is
How to Measure Success in the Life of a Surgeon
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. Albert Schweitzer But how to get there? It was the second half of the 19th century.
Saying Goodbye to the Father
The surgery was long and complicated. Then Dr. Murano had to take the patient back to the OR for bleeding. It was well after midnight when he got home. The ICU nurse kept calling him with the updates, and it
Walking a Fine Line with the Patient’s Family Before Surgery
Dr. Jack Murano was sitting in his office with the patient’s family in front of him. Their father was in the ICU awaiting a complex heart operation. The older man’s heart was not good, and his cardiologists couldn’t do much
How Do We Look at a Genius with Flaws
The year was 1881 and a young woman was dying from the postpartum hemorrhage. The young, 29 years old surgeon was contacted and after deliberations he drew blood from his own vein and transfused it to the patient. The patient
Retirement Is a Perfect Time for More Education
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication Leonardo da Vinci Friday morning vascular department conferences are special for me. For several reasons. Firstly, it’s the time. The conference starts at 7am. I usually get up at 5am, get ready, read emails and
Being Headstrong Helps to Succeed as a Cardiac Surgeon
Lawyer: Dr Cooley, do you consider yourself the best surgeon in the world? Dr Cooley: Yes, I do. Lawyer: Don’t you think it is rather immodest? Dr Cooley: Perhaps, but remember, you put me under oath. Dr Denton Cooley was
Look Back on My Surgical Career
Does it ever happen to you, that after a conversation or event is over, an untimely thought comes to mind? Something you should say or do, and you didn’t think of it at a proper time? Then suddenly you do,
Addictions and How Do They Influence Our Lives
“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic, or alcohol or morphine or idealism C.G. Yung Pete Rose, the greatest ever baseball hitter, was banned from entering the Hall of Fame because of gambling addiction. There are
A Path to Become a Surgeon, cont.
It is sometimes asserted, that a surgical operation is or should be a work of art… fit to rank with those of the painter or a sculptor. .That proposition does not admit to discussion. It is a product of the
A Path to Become a Surgeon
It is necessary that a surgeon should have a temperate and moderate disposition. That he should have well-formed hands, long slender fingers, a strong body, not inclined to tremble and with all his members trained to the capable fulfillment of
So, Is Surgery an Art or a Science?
The practice of medicine is a thinker’s art, the practice of surgery is a plumber’s. Martin H. Fischer, obviously a medical doctor This was a picture I grew up with in my Medical School. I saw medical specialists as a
Are your clothes important?
“Do clothes make the doctor?” is a recent article in a local paper. Author Elisabeth Dreesen works as a surgeon at UNC Chapel Hill. She writes about the appropriateness or not of the way of dressing up by residents in
How to best train resident doctors
On March 4th 1984, they admitted college freshman Libby Zion to the New York hospital with high fever and agitation. Despite efforts of medical intern, medical resident and attending physician, she died the next day. Her father, a prominent NY lawyer
