Common questions leading up to brain surgery revolve around postoperative care. “How much care will I require?” “Does someone need to be with me 24/7?” “Can I go upstairs?” What are my restrictions?” “How will I feel?” “When will I feel normal again?” These common questions are highlighted by the recent death of Argentinian soccer…
We tend not to hear much about Presidential health, even though nearly half of them in our nation’s history have had significant illnesses or injuries while in office. In 1893, Grover Cleveland underwent a “craniotomy-like” procedure. During his second term as President and on the brink of a Depression, he had a large tumor on…
Although my wife is a vegetarian and detests seeing the holiday fowl’s carcass dehydrating on the counter surface of which she just prepared her vegetables, my kids fight each year over who gets the chance to make their dearest wish come true. The infamous wishbone competition. The Etruscans, an ancient Italian civilization, may have been…
Some patients report they smoke more because they have spine pain or anxiety. Studies have shown that smokers increase their cigarette consumption when their pain increases. 42% of persons experiencing medically unexplained pain in the last year smoke. 54% of treatment-seeking chronic pain patients smoke. Furthermore, these smokers tend to have more maladaptive pain behaviors,…
“Of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most” -Mark Twain If you’ve never visited the Chicago Field Museum, I suggest checking it out if you are in town. The most complete T. rex skeleton ever found, “Sue”, awaits you in the entrance gallery. She looks like a tyrant, scaled, and crouching…
Leona Lewis’s, “Bleeding Love”, was released in 2007 and was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy’s. However the British pop song may creatively illustrate some points from a recent article in, Operative Neurosurgery, regarding misconceptions of cerebral aneurysm treatment. A brain aneurysm is an outpouching of…
… To Get a Jolt From My Electrodes “From my laboratory in the castle east, To the master bedroom where the vampires feast. The Ghouls all came from their humble abodes, To get a jolt from my electrodes.” Monster Mash – Bobby Pickett From October 20th to October 27th, 1962, Bobby Pickett’s, “Monster Mash”, was…
Being a surgeon, a favorite Simpson’s quote is, “I don’t know why we don’t operate outside more often”. This short clip satirizes the effectiveness of traditional operating room sterile technique. Most people would consider the operating room the embodiment of sterility. The perception of surgical masks and hand washing provides confidence that this is the…
On August 03, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail on his maiden voyage with the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria to find the Northwest Passage and reach Asia from Europe by water. Columbus’ logic to sail west across the Atlantic instead of around Africa was reasonable, however his math was faulty in that he grossly underestimated…
Amongst the list of the most useful tools in human history, the knife is usually at the top. The knife is hypothesized to have existed for more than 2 million years, longer than modern humans have walked the Earth. It’s evolved, changing form, to meet our needs. Evidence of knives used in medicine may be…