Book Review: Surgeon's Story By Mark Oristano and Giveaway

SURGEON'S STORY
Inside OR-3 with One of America's Top Pediatric Heart Surgeons

By: Mark Oristano with Kristine Guleserian, MD

Published: February 28, 2017

Publisher: Authority Publishing

Non-Fiction

I'm participating in the Pump Up Your Book Blog Tour for Oristano's book, SURGEON'S STORY. I love medical memoirs and this focus on a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon was completely fascinating. The amount of education and training needed, the fact that she is a petite woman with attitude and heart, and the intricacy of her operations likened to sewing a piece of olive onto a macaroni noodle are all amazing to me. The best part is you can enter to win a $25 gift card to Amazon and purchase your own copy if you win!

Mark Oristano is a well-known sports journalist and decides to follow Dr. Kristine Guleserian, a noted pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon who works on tiny hearts of some of the youngest children as well as some of the most damaged and weakest hearts in children. Through her voice, as well as his, we are introduced to the years of grueling training that medical students go through to the day she decides to become a surgeon to the many lives she has saved during her years at Children's Medical Center in Dallas.

One of her patients, Rylynn, is featured throughout the story. Rylynn's case begins as an infant, born with a heart abnormality. As a toddler, she becomes Dr. Guleserian's patient and eventually needs a heart transplant. The story of resilience of this sweet girl and all that she endured to be a healthy child is quite amazing. She is a true fighter and reading about the multiple surgeries and near death experiences her and her parents endured brought me to tears.

At just 140 pages, this book is a quick look at the life and career of a compassionate doctor who truly loves being a surgeon. It isn't bogged down in medical jargon, but instead offers the human side of doctors, patients looking for another chance at life, and parents praying to see their children be active and grow into adults. A really fascinating book!



View the book trailer below:

Mark Oristano

Mark Oristano has been a professional writer/journalist since the age of 16. After growing up in suburban New York, Oristano moved to Texas in 1970 to attend Texas Christian University.  A major in Mass Communications, Mark was hired by WFAA-TV in 1973 as a sports reporter, the start of a 30-year career covering the NFL and professional sports.


Mark has worked with notable broadcasters including Verne Lundquist, Oprah Winfrey and as a sportscaster for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network and Houston Oilers Radio Network.  He has covered Super Bowls and other major sports events throughout his career.  He was part of Ron Chapman’s legendary morning show on KVIL-FM in Dallas for nearly 20 years.

In 2002 Oristano left broadcasting to pursue his creative interests, starting a portrait photography business and becoming involved in theater including summer productions with Shakespeare Dallas. He follows his daughter Stacey’s film career who has appeared in such shows as Friday Night Lights and Bunheads.

A veteran stage actor in Dallas, Mark Oristano was writer and performer for the acclaimed one-man show “And Crown Thy Good: A True Story of 9/11.” Oristano authored his first book, A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football: Decoding America’s Favorite Game. A Sportcaster’s Guide offers inside tips about how to watch football, including stories from Oristano’s 30-year NFL career, a look at offense, defense and special teams, and cool things to say during the game to sound like a real fan.


In 2016 Oristano finished his second book, Surgeon’s Story, a true story about a surgeon that takes readers inside the operating room during open heart surgery. His second book is described as a story of dedication, talent, training, caring, resilience, guts and love.

In 1997, Mark began volunteering at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, working in the day surgery recovery room. It was at Children’s that Mark got to know Kristine Guleserian, MD, first to discuss baseball, and later, to learn about the physiology, biology, and mystery of the human heart. That friendship led to a joint book project, Surgeon’s Story, about Kristine’s life and career.

Mark is married and has two adult children and two grandchildren. For more information, check him out at his website, HERE.

Mark Oristano is giving away a $25 Amazon Gift Card!

Terms & Conditions:

• By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
• One winner will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive a $25 Amazon Gift Card.
• This giveaway ends midnight July 28.
• Winner will be contacted via email on July 29.
• Winner has 48 hours to reply.

Good luck everyone!

ENTER TO WIN!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To purchase a copy of SURGEON'S STORY, click the photo below:

Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com

Book Review: Bedlam's Door by Mark Rubinstein, MD

BEDLAM'S DOOR
True Tales of Madness and Hope

By: Mark Rubinstein

Published: September 1, 2016

Publisher: Thunder Lake Press

Non-Fiction/Medical Memoir



I often find medical non-fiction interesting and really enjoy reading true stories of medical anomalies or stories where patients overcame medical struggles. In BEDLAM'S DOOR, stories of mental illness are told through the eyes of a psychiatrist. Rubinstein shares patients he met while working in a hospital, often meeting the patient as they arrive in the ER via their own admission, through the police, or admitted by concerned family members.

In these true stories, patients are dealing with a myriad of mental psychosis including depression, OCD, and PTSD to name a few. Many of them were living their every day life until something happened to change that chemical balance in their lives. Whether it was a traumatic event, unforeseen stressor, or long buried illness, these patients hit a breaking point and were unable to continue to manage their symptoms on their own.

Even though Rubinstein only sees them at the beginning stages of their admission, he is able to give an update through checking in with co-workers and following the case at least until discharge in most cases. The stories are short, with each chapter featuring a new patient. He offers a bit of background and a review of their initial conversation upon admission. These case studies give readers an understanding of how out of control the disease of mental illness can be and how scary it can be for both the patient and for their family.

I can see those who may know someone suffering from mental illness would find these stories comforting and yet fascinating. In nearly all of these cases, the inpatient and outpatient treatment helped them move forward in their lives and get past the issues that brought the mental illness to the surface.

CBS News recently ran a story on Rubinstein and his new book. Click HERE to see the article.

Mark Rubinstein, MD

Mark Rubinstein MD was born in Brooklyn, New York. He dreamed of playing baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers since his all-time hero was the Dodgers' first baseman Gil Hodges. Rubinstein played high school baseball and ran track. His love of sports led him to read sports fiction, and soon he became a voracious reader, developing an enduring love for all kinds of novels. 

He graduated from New York University with a degree in business administration. He then served in the army and ended up as a field medic tending to paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division. He was so taken with these experiences that after his discharge, he re-entered NYU as a premed student.

He entered medical school at the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center. As a medical student, he developed an interest in psychiatry, discovering in that specialty the same thing he realized in reading fiction: every patient has a compelling story to tell. He became a board-certified psychiatrist practicing in New York City.

In addition to running his private practice, he developed an interest in forensic psychiatry because the drama and conflict of the cases and courtrooms tapped into his personality style. He also taught psychiatric residents, interns, psychologists, and social workers at New York Presbyterian Hospital and became a clinical assistant professor at Cornell University's medical school. 

Before turning to fiction, Rubinstein coauthored five medical self-help books: The First Encounter: The Beginnings in Psychotherapy (Jason Aronson); The Complete Book of Cosmetic Facial Surgery (Simon and Schuster); New Choices: the Latest Options in Treating Breast Cancer (Dodd Mead); Heartplan: A Complete Program for Total Fitness of Heart & Mind (McGraw-Hill), and The Growing Years: A Guide to Your Child's Emotional Development from Birth to Adolescence (Atheneum).

Rubinstein's high-octane thriller Mad Dog House was a finalist for the 2012 ForeWord Book Of The Year Award for suspense/thriller novels. His 2nd thriller, Love Gone Mad, was published in September 2013 and his novella, The Foot Soldier (November 2013) won the Silver award in the 2014 Benjamin Franklin Awards competition, in the Popular Fiction category. His novel Mad Dog Justice (September 2014), tagged as a "pulse-pounding tale of post-modern paranoia," is a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Award. His novella, Return to Sandara, (October 2014), won the gold IPPY Award for Suspense/Fiction. His latest novel, The Lovers' Tango, published in June 2015, has won the Gold Medal in Popular Fiction for this year’s Benjamin Franklin Award.

To purchase a copy of BEDLAM'S DOOR, click the photo below:




Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to purchase this book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com. 

Book Review: Working Stiff By Judy Melinek and T.J. Mitchell

WORKING STIFF
Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

By: Judy Melinek, M.D. and T.J. Mitchell

Published: August 12, 2014

Publisher: Scribner

Non-Fiction

For some reason, I am fascinated by medical memoirs. This one is kind of on the other end of medical...more in the morgue, but still an interesting look at the life of a medical examiner.

Judy Melinek and her husband, T.J. Mitchell have chronicled her two years working as a New York City medical examiner. She discusses some of her most bizarre and intense deaths during that time, including murder scenes, drug overdoses, and accidents. Life in New York City is never dull and each day was full of surprises.

I mostly listened to this on audio, narrated by Tanya Eby. I had both the Kindle and audible narration but found it was easier to listen to than to read. I will warn you that the material is quite graphic. Melinek does not hold back with her descriptions of the death scene or examination of the body. If you are at all squeamish, this book would NOT be for you. But, I found it easier to listen to the graphic descriptions rather than to read them. I did find myself cringing a bit while driving though at the descriptions. Eby's voice was easy to listen to and even found ways to change her voice for the various medical doctors and law enforcement that were on each scene. Eby was actually an Earphones Winner for her narration of WORKING STIFF.

Melinek obviously meets the various people after their life has ended, but finds ways to bring each of them to life by offering various background information either through the police reports or conversations with family. Melinek's own father committed suicide and she spends several pages discussing that impact on her life and attending other suicides while on her job. She even found a way to offer support to one grieving family which, I'm sure, gave her a sense of comfort as well.

The most difficult part of the book to listen to was her chapter discussing her work after 9/11. Even when I started the book and knew what year she was working in New York City, it never even occurred to me that she would be working on September 11, 2001. So, as she started describing her morning I realized the horror she was going to take the readers through on the following pages...and it was beyond horrific. I can't imagine what the first responders, fire department professionals, and law enforcement went through in the days, months, and years following 9/11. What they had to witness and go through was disastrous and life-changing. Listening to this section of the book actually caused me to pull my car over as I was crying too much to drive while listening. This part of the book has left quite an impact on me and will forever change how I view 9/11.

What most impressed me about Melinek was that she was able to separate her work life from her home life. During these early years in her career, she was a wife and mother to a toddler and then pregnant again. After viewing the unimaginable every day, she seamlessly went home and led the role of wife and mother. I, on the other hand, would have had a difficult time separating the two.  She talked about her day just like any other spouse would and then got on with the business of motherhood. She is a great example of working parents in stressful careers.

Judy Melinek, M.D. - source

Judy Melinek, M.D. is a graduate of Harvard University. She trained at UCLA in medicine and pathology, graduating in 1996. Her training at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York is the subject of her memoir, Working Stiff, which she co-wrote with her husband. Currently, Dr. Melinek is an Assistant Clinical Professor at UCSF, and works as a forensic pathologist in San Francisco. She also travels nationally and internationally to lecture on anatomic and forensic pathology and she has been consulted as a forensic expert in many high-profile legal cases, as well as for the television shows E.R. and Mythbusters. For more info on Judy Melinek, click HERE. 

Tanya Eby - source

To find out more about this award-winning narrator and see all the books she has read to listeners over the years, click HERE.

To purchase a copy of WORKING STIFF, click the photo below:




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A post from today, 1year ago - Book Review: The Italian Wife By Kate Furnivall 


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Book Review: 10,000 Babies By Silvio Aladjem M.D.

10,000 BABIES
MY LIFE IN THE DELIVERY ROOM

By:  Silvio Aladjem M.D.

Published: March 1, 2013




This book is a compilation of stories from Dr Aladjem's years of  practice as a Fetal Medicine Specialist.  His stories contain antidotes of patients from their prenatal visits all the way through delivery.  There are stories that will make you cry, some that will be jaw-dropping, and others that will make you laugh.  But, as a mother, all of them made me sentimental for my own delivery stories and caused me to look back on those times fondly.

In 10,000 BABIES, Dr Aladjem begins by walking you through the labor and delivery process, the history of women having babies, and as the stories permit, a bit of the cultural background related to delivering babies.  Since, Dr Aladjem is a Fetal Medicine Specialist, he gets referrals and sees those patients that are at high risk.  There are women who have had multiple miscarriages, women who are carrying multiple babies, women who are diabetic, and even one woman who made her body believe she was pregnant.

I think the sharing of our birth stories is one that ties women together.  It is something that mothers can identify and relate to.  The day we gave birth to our child is one of the most memorable and significant days of our lives and being able to hear about another woman's struggle, complications, and joys validates our experience as well.  As you read through this book, you will feel like you are hearing the stories from friends.

Not all the stories in this book are joyous, and there were a few that broke my heart.  But, the way Dr Aladjem tells their stories gives respect to the parents and shows his concern.  This book reminds us what a miracle it is for life to form and grow inside a woman's body and the critical nature of delivering the baby.  It is nothing short of a miracle each and every time.

There was a lot that I learned about the labbor and delivery process as well.  I had never heard of pica, a disease where a pregnant woman has cravings for dirt, chalk and paint chips.  I had never heard of a women believing so strongly that she was pregnant that she tricked her body into believing it too.  I was also intrigued by the cultural aspects of labor and delivery, especially involving the placenta.

With each chapter being it's own story, you can read this over a long period of time, or at once.  There is some repetition as you go through the book, explaining medical situations and reasons for type of care, but having the chapters each being their own individual story, I can understand why this was done.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading the birth stories from the doctor's perspective.  He was absolutely a very caring, attentive doctor and the women in this book were lucky to have him.  There is no question that he loved his job every single day and felt it a privilege to help bring new life into this world. He also gave much credit to the nurses both in the delivery room as well as in his office.  He was proud of the staff he worked with each day.  Dr. Aladjem found his calling and has contributed enormous knowledge and care to the world.  He has blessed many women over the years and I hope his life is immensely blessed as well.

Dr Silvio Aladjem

Dr. Silvio Aladjem is an obstetrician/maternal-fetal medicine specialist. He is Professor Emeritus in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University in Lansing, MI and Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is Board Certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and the sub-specialty of Maternal Fetal Medicine. He is the author of several textbooks in the field of obstetrics and perinatal medicine.  For more on the book, visit the website http://www.deliveryofthebaby.com/. 

10,000 BABIES is available in hard cover, paperback and on the Kindle.  

Thanks to the author for sending me a copy of this book for review.  This review is my honest opinion.  If you choose to purchase the book through the above link, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase. Thanks for supporting SincerelyStacie.com.