Be prepared for laughter and tears in this behind-the-scenes peek into this doctor's life, with a twist that takes his career from the clinic to the cockpit as he embarks on a second profession as a commercial airline pilot. This fascinating memoir offers a glimpse into the extraordinary life of a young physician. Walk through the halls of the hospital with the author as a medical intern. Dash along on his calls as he rushes to attend dramatic scenes involving life and death. Watch as he saves a life by applying a theory he learned in medical school and performing a procedure he has studied from a book - if he's lucky, he has actually seen one done once. "See one, do one, teach one" is the refrain among all of his equally-inexperienced young colleagues. If he is nervous or unsure, he is nevertheless intrepid. He does what he believes must be done.This true-life narrative takes you through a thirteen-year segment of the author's life. It begins with a detailed description of life as a medical intern followed by a brief stint practicing rural medicine in the tiny town of Grand Coulee, Washington, as a fresh new physician. The story continues with an account of his duties as a naval flight surgeon during the Vietnam War years and, finally, his experience in private practice in a small resort town in North Idaho. Throughout the period, he questions his choice of a career in medicine and struggles with the decision to leave it all behind to pursue a lifetime dream.You'll enjoy it all in this well-written memoir that is factual, informative, honest, and, at times, cleverly humorous.
A collection of essays ranging from music to the arts to the tango of human relationships. The essays examine our strengths, weaknesses, attractiveness as human beings, and our dark side that alienates us from our fellow travelers. There is humor as well as pathos throughout life which is captured in these stories that attempt to capture what human beings are capable of in the daily routines of their lives.
In 21 missions over Germany in World War II, B-24 bomber pilot Jim McLaughry returned to base 14 times with wounded aboard, flying on fewer than four engines or with his plane seriously crippled from enemy action. His harrowing experiences in combat included surviving a seemingly inevitable open-sea ditching, miraculously avoiding a mid-air collision, and landing at his home base with engines that had only a minute and a half of flying time left. Here, McLaughry shares moment-by-moment stories of unique experiences that convinced him that there was a God who could speak to him over the roar of the engines and show him "a pathway through the sky". Going on to serve as personal pilot to General Fredrick L. Anderson, second-in-command of the US Strategic Air Forces, Jim flew with the general through bombed-out Germany in the last days of the war. Witnessing the devastating carnage at first hand, and walking among the smoking ruins, Jim was shaken and appalled - it changed the direction of his life. Step back in time into the mind and heart of a young man's search for purpose in the darkest days of the war.
INDENT] Charismatic girl, handicapped from birth, jumps from a handicap-elementary to a normal high school, proves her detractors spectacularly wrong, and becomes a thriving professional helper, not helpee. Young and single professional woman meets, grows, travels and laughs through many adventures while pursuing patriotic employment in her nation's capital. INDENT] Pam Silverwood, B.S., M.A. and SLP/CCC (Speech-Language Pathologist, Certificate of Clinical Competence) was born with the worst kind of Spina Bifida, and she was written off by her doctors, who said she would never walk or talk and she'd be mentally retarded. Her parents were advised to institutionalize her at birth, but her father said, "No, she's part of our family; she's coming home with us." INDENT] She walked, she talked, and against all expectation eventually became Supervisor of Speech-Language Pathology at WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER, where she met, diagnosed, and treated First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, U.S. Senator Karl E. Mundt, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, and grievously injured U.S. Army officers and soldiers, including 4-Star General Lewis B. Hershey. INDENT] FIRST PAGE: "Good morning, Pam. The Commanding General wants to see you right away ""Oh, that's funny; you guys are really good ""Yes, we know. And you really are wanted in the General's office -- STAT Here's the message; you're excused from the staff What could I have done? I thought minutes later, as I run-skittered through the polished hallways. I can't have killed anyone Speech therapy is not a lethal discipline This was my fourth year at Walter Reed Army Hospital; I had never been in the Commanding General's office for any reason. Called on the carpet now, without a clue, I was terrified. My feet were still racing my heart as I turned into the outer office... .... INDENT] LAST CHAPTER (EPILOGUE): INDENT] In all, I learned from my own life -- and those of my patients and students -- that great things may happen, if you hope and try; that pediatricians and surgeons -- even speech-language pathologists -- sometimes don't know, and when they don't know, they may sometimes just make something up, or tell you something that their professor made up long ago. First, they may tell you something so pessimistic that it demolishes all your hope ("she'll never walk or talk") when hope is everything to you. Or, second, they may tell you something so optimistic ("he'll grow out of it") that it lulls you into complacency -- into waiting till the child is older, when a completely successful intervention may be impossible. Between these opposites, medical or paramedical professionals may sometimes advise intervention that is ill-advised. As a parent, educator, counselor, minister/priest/rabbi/imam, advocate, social worker or attorney, it is your job both to hope and to do -- never letting either down for the sake of the other; it is your job to get second opinions -- and sometimes, with or against "good" advice, you may still prayerfully have to say the equivalent of "No, she's part of our family; she's coming home with us " Your daughter (or son, or patient, or student, or client or parishioner, or plaintiff or defendant) is depending on you for that. I wish you all the help of Heaven and earth with these all-important decisions. INDENT] END OF SAMPLE TEXT. INDENT] READER: For every outcast and everyone in danger of feeling oneself an outcast. Whoever you are--whatever your handicap or other condition of birth or experience--there's hope here for you. For every parent of a physically imperfect child, yes, but also for anyone and everyone handicapped by perceived inferiority of whatever nature. Whatever your reason for feeling incomplete, this memoirist knows your struggle, understands you, and prays for your self-acceptance and success.
