
When the Symphony Dies… Part 1
________________________________________________ Editor’s Note: A brief story of a series of events that represented some significant challenges for this perfusionist as well as the entire open heart and surgical ICU teams… ________________________________________________ A Level 1 Trauma – 2:00 AM Pager goes off- that’s never good. A call from the OR desk- Something going on in a…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: The Heart-Lung Machine
This book is NOW over 99% written and moving into the Editing Phase! The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects relating to open heart surgery- from the perspective…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: Perfusion Dreams
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 99% written and moving into the Editing Phase! The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: Forged by Fire
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 99% written and moving into the Editing Phase! The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects…

The COVID WARS: Is it Covid 19 “ISH” ? We Need a GamePlan!
YES… They are US! Editor’s Note: I’ve been down South for a couple of months now. I was standing on the side lines for 10 weeks- which in all honesty is a far sicker place to be than confronting this elusive snake- COVID 19 ISH. The reason that “ISH” is even in the…

Covid 19: ITALY Will Prevail !
Editor’s Note: All I can say is that I have known Giuseppe Salerno since I started this blog. I love this man- because he is so very straight up and just a very decent human being. He cares- and that stands out in all things G (my short name for Giuseppe). We have never met-…

Corona Virus & Reminders of H1N1 (Swine Flu)
Editor’s Note: Yeah- We are all a little worried. But this is not a time to get tunnel vision. Isolation, hording, fear of contact, mistrust, paralyzing fear, xenophobia, spastic parasympathetic responses to something as normal as a human sneeze- or cough- WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT. That visceral parasympathetic/sympathetic reaction to human stress- is called…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: The Joshua Story
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 99% written and moving into the Editing Phase! The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: Which Edge of the Knife?
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 99% written and moving into the Editing Phase! The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: A Collage of Triumphs & Pitfalls
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 90% written- The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects relating to open heart surgery- from…

Excerpts from: Heart Surgery in America: Case Cancelled…
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 90% written- The title of the book is “The Tips of Spears- An Inside Look At Heart Surgery in America” It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects relating to open heart surgery- from…

Excerpts From Heart Surgery in America: Forged by Fire…
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 3/4 written, It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects relating to open heart surgery- from the perspective of a perfusionist. This book is a commentary not only on the intricacies of heart surgery,…

Excerpts From Heart Surgery in America: Pump Zombies
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 3/4 written, It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects relating to open heart surgery- from the perspective of a perfusionist. This book is a commentary not only on the intricacies of heart surgery,…

A Locum’s ScrapBook: TEAMING UP in Southern Indiana
Editor’s Note: To view the entire “Locum’s ScrapBook” series- click here My life is Family First and then Perfusion. I switched from staff perfusionist to becoming a Locum’s traveler to make sure my kids and family would have a solid place to call home. I travel because it puts me in charge of my life, it…

Yahoo’s, Cowboy’s & Heart Surgeons: What are we made of?
Editor’s Note: I am writing a book on an inside perspective on Heart Surgery in America. I decided that I would release portions of this story as I am telling it- to see what you think. We all have our stories about how we got here 🙂 It is in chronological order, so some of the…

Yahoo’s, Cowboy’s & Heart Surgeons: A Pilot and a Heart-Lung Machine
Editor’s Note: I am writing a book on an inside perspective on Heart Surgery in America. I decided that I would release portions of this story as I am telling it- to see what you think. We all have our stories about how we got here 🙂 It is in chronological order, so some of the…

Yahoo’s, Cowboy’s & Heart Surgeons: “We Stop Your Heart to Keep You Alive”
Editor’s Note: I am writing a book on an inside perspective on Heart Surgery in America. I decided that I would release portions of this story as I am telling it- to see what you think. We all have our stories about how we got here 🙂 It is in chronological order, so some of the…

Heart Surgery In America: Epiphany
Editor’s Note: This book is NOW over 3/4 written, It is a rendering of the reality, sometimes sad and at times funny, emotional, and clinical vignettes of the many different aspects relating to open heart surgery- from the perspective of a perfusionist. This book is a commentary not only on the intricacies of heart surgery,…

Yahoo’s, Cowboy’s & Heart Surgeons: Strange Encounters
Editor’s Note: I am writing a book on an inside perspective on Heart Surgery in America. I decided that I would release portions of this story as I am telling it- to see what you think. We all have our stories about how we got here 🙂 It is in chronological order, so some of the…

Yahoo’s, Cowboy’s & Heart Surgeons: “47906”
Editor’s Note: I am writing a book on an inside perspective on Heart Surgery in America. I decided that I would release portions of this story as I am telling it- to see what you think. We all have our stories about how we got here 🙂 It is in chronological order, so some of the…

A Locum’s ScrapBook: New Hallways…
Editor’s Note: I’m doing some perfusion traveling as I am taking my show on the road. As such, every once in awhile I will be dropping a few notes and pictures of places visited, and observations made. In a sense, the beginning of a scrap book on Open Heart Surgery in America (and other places…

HEROS! A Job Shadowing Experience
“I now understand even more why someone would want to go in this line of work; these men and women in the OR make a difference, together they do something incredible, literally life altering, they are nothing short of modern day hero’s.” Editor’s Note: This is a narrative from a future perfusion student who job-shadowed…

My Perfusion Job Shadowing Experience: Day 1
Click HERE to view entire series 🙂 Editor’s Note: This is part 1 of what is going to be a 3-part series- the first two posts presented by a young, soon-to-be medical professional who job shadowed for two days with me. The last will be a re-post of something I had written- that reflects the…

Heart Surgery in America: Friday 10.0
Click HERE for the entire Series… Friday 10.0 A Day @ the Office: Return to Sender… It takes a while to digest stuff- Yeah- did a heart today, and then another- first was an aortic valve replacement- second was a guy missing the last half of his right foot, who had lost his wife a…