Living and Dying
by
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DOCTOR BALFORE CARDIOLOGY TO OPERATING ROOM THREE STAT. DOCTOR BALFORE CARDIOLOGY TO OPERATING ROOM THREE STAT. The loudspeaker echoed through the halls. DOCTOR NAVIK SURGERY TO OPERATING ROOM THREE STAT. DOCTOR NAVIK SURGERY TO OPERATING ROOM THREE STAT. For a brief moment the entire hospital paused. The ominous message hidden in the early morning directives of the operator was one of true and panicked urgency.
The doors to the room swung open to nothing less than organized chaos. Physicians surrounding a patient, yelling out orders while nurses frantically worked as fast as they could. On the table lay Joshua Dillon, or at least the body of one very young Joshua Dillon. He laid unresponsive and limp as nurses stuck him with needles, as anesthesiologists shoved a tube into his trachea and forced oxygen into his stoic lungs, and as other physicians attempted to shock life into his dying heart...yet he continued his quiet and lonely journey.
All the actions in the room represented the combined accomplishments and efforts of countless generations who dedicated themselves toward the preservation of human life. All that we have learned through the centuries now culminated into one grand orchestrated event...where the living would battle to rescue a life from the luring embrace of death. In this tiny, cold, and sterile room, the fight would be a fleeting moment in the eternal course of the heavens, but it would forever alter the woven fabric of time.
On some subconscious level the living world was screaming, 'Stay alive Joshua! Stay alive!' But where was he now? Was he slipping into some meaningless, unknowing, nothingness...or was he transcending the physical, blossoming into the realm of a beautiful spiritual existence? The questions endless, the answers elusive.
In the course of his life, Joshua preserved only the faintest memory of the innocent dreams of his childhood. Dreams which never blossomed, because of the overwhelming storm created by the fear and uncertainty which came to dominate his life. These powers repeatedly beat his fortitude into quiet submission. He allowed himself to enter a world of untamed, gluttonous, and undisciplined pleasures. His helm was out of his control, and in his life he had not considered a true direction, or destination. Would he hear the living? Could he hear the cries from the world he was leaving behind? Was he on the deck of his ship calmly waving good-bye, or was he frantically screaming through the tears of talents which were gifted to him at birth but left wholly undisturbed and undeveloped. Was he screaming to save a life left so unlived? Most assuredly, from over the tumultuous waves of death, which pulled him ever farther out to sea, he could hear the screaming whispers of the living fading, as they echoed their plea...'Stay alive Joshua! Stay alive!'
'Where the hell is cardiology?' someone yelled just as Dr. Zaied, a cardiothoracic surgeon, entered the room.
'Somebody give me the run-down,' he commanded, orienting himself to the monitors and the flat heart rhythm.
'Twenty-six years old,' Dr. Rose Morgan spoke quickly without hesitating, 'Alcoholism. No cardiac history. Ulcer work up. All pre-op labs were normal, negative films, epigastric tenderness on exam. He went into asystole during EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy). Looks like he perforated a posterior pyloric ulcer, and bled out.'
'How long has he been flat?' he barked.
'About two minutes,' she responded, 'He went from pulseless electrical activity to a variable wide complex tachycardia, a short run of venticular fibrillation, and now this.'
'Okay!' Dr. Zaied took charge. 'Here's what I want...' He threw out a quick series of orders that sent everyone scrambling to preserve every possible second.
The atmosphere was thick with adrenaline. Within a few moments, Rose watched as Joshua's heart was repeatedly squeezed with each chest compression. Blood and fluids were being transfused as fast as possible. A rhythm appeared on the monitor. It was grossly abnormal, but it gave some glimmer of hope. Beads of sweat dripped from Dr. Zaied's forehead as he unrelentingly fought to revive the injured heart, to thwart death as life continued slipping further and further away. By the time Dr. Balfore, the cardiologist, rushed in, they were ten minutes into pushing medications designed to jump-start the heart, forcing oxygen in and out of his lungs, and repeatedly compressing the blood out of his heart between shocks, but Joshua's body remained broken. In thirty minutes, it was all over as quickly as it started. The instruments were quietly laid down. The machines were turned off. And no one spoke.
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About the Book
What happens when we die? What happens to the physical body when we gracefully bow to this world, and our heart falls silent? What happens to our mind as we are forced to confront an ignored but inevitable mortality? How and why do we age? What is cancer? How long does rigor mortis last? What does it feel like to die? What is a living will? What is hospice? In coming to terms with death.....might we come to understand life in a new light?
I would like to present to you Living and Dying, an extensive manuscript dedicated to questions such as these, and many, many more. It is a twist of Tuesday's with Morrie and How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter. However, it is unique in that it addresses very serious nonfiction through an engaging and readable fiction. We will come to know Rose Morgan, a strong willed and compassionate physician, who is forced to confront her own mortality when diagnosed with breast cancer. This initiates her quest to understand the prospects which lay ahead. The reader will travel with her as she explores death from the medical, psychological, and spiritual points of view. Further, insights will be gained into legal, historical, and forensic aspects of death, not to mention....mortuary science and hospice care. As Rose learns and grows from the selfless gifts of psychologists, physicians, religious leaders, and family, she is able to unmask the mysterious and frightening faces of death....taming them in her heart.
There are several reasons I believe this book is a must read. First, this is the only single source available which handles this sensitive subject matter in such depth, or scope. Secondly, it's a complex subject broken down in a multi-disciplinary manner and offered in an entertaining, nontextbook/nonpontificating style....much like the bestseller The Killer Angels provided for readers interested in Civil War history and the Battle of Gettysburg. Further, Living and Dying offers the general reader a gripping and enticing account of a powerful and compassionate woman, with whom we can identify, as she struggles with issues that are common to each of us. At the same time, and on an entirely different level, it also gives the professional a firm source of knowledge, with references to the work and accomplishments of many giants in the field....such as Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Dr. Sherwin Nuland, and Dr. Bernie Siegel. Lastly, although the primary focus of Living and Dying is the study of death, it will also fill a void by being a book which seriously tackles and increases awareness of women's health issues....namely breast cancer.
In the end, as true as it is that we are living and breathing beings, it is equally true that we share a common and innate intrigue.....an intrigue in discovering and unveiling the nature of our imminent death. This book represents a wonderful step in that direction.
About the Author
Daniel T. Clerc received his medical training at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and is currently a housestaff physician at Family Medicine of St. Louis, a community-based residency training program. Prior to medical training, he completed Bachelor's degrees in psychology and molecular biology, and a Master's degree in biochemistry.
Living and Dying was conceived through the discovery of answers to personal questions. Personal questions sparked by the study of medicine....which in the end is the study of life, the study of health, the study of sickness, and ultimately, the study of death, all wrapped in an altruistic belief in duty to humanity. Coupled with a multidisciplinary background and unique experiences as varied as medical examiner's office autopsies, hospice care home visits, medicolegal death investigator certification, cancer support group meetings, and keen pursuits in the study of history, Dr. Clerc is able to offer a book which is infinitely readable and yet loaded with vital information. Through history, we have struggled to understand the meaning of life and the phenomenon of death....Living and Dying represents a concise review of the information it has taken us these long centuries to acquire. Dr. Clerc offers us, through an unique blend of creativity and scientific pursuit, a composite of what we know and what we don't know about death and the process of dying.