Author: Hamilton, Allan J. M.D.
Call Number: 617.48092 H217YH 2009
Book Description from amazon.com:
A Harvard-educated neurosurgeon reveals his experiences—in and out of the operating room—with apparitions, angels, exorcism, after-death survival, and the miracle of hope. For the millions who have enjoyed Proof of Heaven, Heaven is Real, To Heaven and Back, andGetting to Heaven—an inspiring tale from where the veil between life and death is often at its thinnest.
The Scalpel and the Soul explores how premonition, superstition, hope, and faith not only become factors in how patients feel but can change outcomes. It validates the spiritual manifestations physicians see every day and empowers patients to voice their spiritual needs when they seek medical help. Finally, it addresses the mysterious, attractive powers the soul exerts during life-threatening events.
My Read:
Chapter Eleven is titled "Thread of Hope." It's about what happened to a young brain tumor patient when cruel message had hit home, when hope he had been hold was taken away. "Donald, you remember once you asked me to tell you straight when it was time to go fishing?" the doctor asked. Donald nodded and looked down at his feet. "Well, it's time. Now, Donald." Donald didn't look up. He just sat there with his head bowed with tears falling onto his lap.---page 139 The next morning Donald's mother called the doc telling him her son, Donald had expired during the night. He was gone. The doctor said on the same page that 'He is convinced Donald died that night because the hope that had sustained him was taken away. He mistakenly cut the thin thread of hope that had kept him alive and aloft.' Indeed, hope keeps a person strongly motivated and sustains powerful will to survive and live.
Chapter Thirteen is named "For the Love of God." It's a about child with poorly treated hydrocephalus and his grandmother who was suffering from IV stage of ovarian cancer.The grandmother was informed by her doctors that she only had 4 months to live and her grandson would never be "normal." But this grandmother who has strong belief and trust in God asked her doctors to pray with her and told her doctors that she expected her grandson to earn a wage, keep a checkbook, and marry and have a family. What happened after the conversation with her doctors was incredulous: Less than three years after she was declared unlikely to live more than four months, this grandmother attended her own doctor's funeral. Her grandson recovered intellectual abilities and makes birdhouses for a living. He also got married and his grandmother was at his wedding. The grandmother said the following to a group of cancer patients: You need to be a realist to believe in miracles, because one can only see the real truth with the heart and not with the eyes."--page 165
Chapter Twelve is titled "Singing in the Brain." It's about a neurologist named Norm Mueller. Dr. Mueller had a theory and observations on aphasia and singing. It seemed to him that there are different legions and areas in the brain to process functions of speech and singing. The author was treating a renowned researcher on Alzheimer's who was suffering from aphasia. This patient doctor had to give a speech in a ceremony to award him for his contribution in the Alzheimer's research. Delivery the award speech in singing earned him a standing ovation. ---page 151-152
I expect to reread this book in the future. It's a good read.
No comments:
Post a Comment