Author's posts
Ode to a little bile bag
Surgery to remove the gallbladder is a relatively late intervention. The first laparotomy was performed in 1807 in Danville, Kentucky, and surgeons like Billroth and Kocher, were removing thyroids and even parts of the esophagus as early as the 1870s;…
An operative field of dreams
I am in a select crowd. I have been fortunate enough to help some special people in their time of pain and heartache and bewilderment, facing operation or cancer or other ailments. I was fortunate to even get into medical school when I did; my grades w…
A call schedule to fix the Supreme Court
Though pushed to the back-burner by the never-ending orange election drama, the Supreme Court, with its significant conservative majority earned against the run of play, (to borrow a metaphor from sport) is one decision away from potential political ir…
The first night on call as a surgery intern
An excerpt from The Surgeon’s Obol. July 1, 8 p.m. “Isabella Isaksen,” I said with an arm extended. “Most people call me ‘Izzie’.” “Mike Gunderson,” came the reply. Most people called him Gundy, but…
The similarities between surgeons and bomber pilots
Recently surfing the far reaches of Netflix for a program on World War II that I hadn’t yet seen, I found a low budget serial documentary dealing with air power in war and in peace. The producers profiled individuals who had contributed to the eventual…
