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WORK TITLE: Hurt
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://catherinemusemeche.com/
CITY: Austin
STATE: TX
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:J.D., M.D.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Pediatric surgeon for more than twenty years. University of Texas Medical School at Houston and MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute (now MD Anderson Cancer Center), associate professor of surgery. Previously Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Director of Pediatric Trauma at the University of New Mexico and now in private practice.
WRITINGS
Contributor of the essay “Lessons,” Creative Nonfiction, 2015.
SIDELIGHTS
Catherine Musemeche, a practicing surgeon in academic medical centers for more than twenty years, is now in private practice. She has been an associate professor at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, now known as MD Anderson Cancer Center. Previously, she was Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Director of Pediatric Trauma at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of several books, including: Twelve Breaths a Minute: End-of-Life Essays, At the End of Life: True Stories about How We Die, Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery, and Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care.
In an interview with Chad Vogler on the At the End of Life Web site, Musemeche talked about death from a doctor’s viewpoint: “Physicians by necessity lose a certain innocence as they learn the practice of medicine. They see things no one else can see. They have a knowledge and understanding of what certain medical facts and diagnoses mean for their patients, their family members, and themselves. There’s the movie where the little boy says, ‘I see dead people.’ Well, guess what: Doctors do, too.” She continued: “When we’re walking down the street, we see things that other people don’t see. We see people dying of cancer, people about to have a heart attack, a person with a horrible, devastating disease. They may be in pain. They may be close to the end. We see these things because we have grown up in a system of medical education that starts in our early twenties and continues for another decade or more and on into practice.” The author concluded: “Just like a baseball player who grows up in a farm system and goes on to the big leagues can see a lot happening on the diamond that escapes the rest of us. Same with medicine. We spend the greater part of our lives within the confines of a hospital—a place that houses the sick and dying. That’s where we live, so we can’t help but recognize it.”
Before getting her M.D., Musemeche got a law degree. In the same interview, Musemeche talked about why going to law school was so important to her: “Oddly enough, part of training in and practicing law is learning to understand human behavior and learning to empathize with clients. Law school teaches you to look at both sides. You learn to argue for and against the same issue, depending on what side you’re on. The best lawyers, especially in front of a jury, are the best communicators. Going to law school made me a better surgeon because I was a more well-rounded person.”
Small
In Small Musemeche unveils the difficulties, pain, and joys of pediatric surgery. She explains that operating on an infant is not just doing everything on a smaller scale, but in fact is a much more complicated and dangerous proposition. Through the use of numerous real-life examples, she covers the horrors that surgeons and anaesthesiologists must deal with when operating on an infant. The operating room feels like a furnace because the baby’s skin is so thin they can lose their body temperature in no time. And their organs are so small and delicate, the possibility of destroying one is very real.
Writing in Maclean’s, Julia McKinnell was impressed with Musmeche’s account and observed: “Operating on infants is not as simple as learning how to sew in miniature, explains Musemeche in this fascinating, often hair-raising account of the state of pediatric surgery. Musemeche has been working in the field for three decades and writes with the kind of drama that feels as visceral as viewing a documentary.” On the Student Doctor Network Web site, Chivas Owle wrote: “Crafting a book as compelling as Small is no, ahem, small matter. Dr. Musemeche should feel proud of bringing to life the world of pediatric surgery in a way that is accessible to anyone. Small is recommended for anyone interested in the field of pediatric surgery as well as anyone who is up for a soul-searching, life-changing, roller-coaster ride of a book that celebrates the miracle of life while acknowledging the heartache of loss. You will never look at a neonatal unit or the people who work in them the same way again.”
Hurt
In Hurt Musemeche takes the reader on a history tour of trauma care and its advances from its beginnings on the battlefields of the Civil War to the high-tech trauma centers we have today. Musemeche says in the book that the public takes for granted emergency health care, but in fact, its advances have been a long time coming. As a longtime trauma surgeon, Musemeche tells the stories of those on the front lines of trauma care.
A Publishers Weekly reviewer reacted positively to Musemeche’s account, writing: “Musemeche’s fast-paced medical history mixes the gritty reality of treating life-threatening injuries, including her own heart-pounding experiences as [a] surgeon, with an unfettered optimism about what trauma care can now promise: an assurance that most people will survive even a devastating injury.” EMS World Web site contributor Mike Rubin wrote: “Hurt’s not perfect—the subtitle sounds cheesy, and illustrations would be nice—but the writing is first-rate, and the stories should engage both medical professionals and amateurs who are fascinated by the process of putting the appallingly injured back together. Even better, Hurt is as educational as it is intriguing. Whether you favor reading for recreation or study, you’re going to appreciate this book.” Rubin added: “Hurt isn’t simply another life-and-death-on-the-streets compendium; it will entice you with the macabre, then take you back to school. The lesson? It’s never too early to make good patient-care decisions.” A Forgotten Winds Web site reviewer commented: “This is a book that will pique your interest from its first chapter to its last. It’s an enlightening book everyone should read to understand how these valuable life-saving techniques evolved, because none of us know when or if we’ll ever be in need of trauma care personnel to save our lives or the lives of loved ones.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Maclean’s, September 15, 2014, Julia McKinnell, review of Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery, p. 69.
Publishers Weekly, July 18, 2016, review of Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care, p. 202.
ONLINE
At the End of Life, https://attheendoflife.wordpress.com/ (May 7, 2012), Chad Vogler, author interview.
Catherine Musemeche Home Page, http://catherinemusemeche.com (May 8, 2017).
EMS World, http://www.emsworld.com/ (September 15, 2016), Mike Rubin, review of Hurt.
Forgotten Winds, https://forgottenwinds.com/ (September 28, 2016), review of Hurt.
Student Doctor Network, https://www.studentdoctor.net/ (October 17, 2014), Chivas Owle, review of Small.*
Catherine Musemeche, M.D.
HURT: A History of Trauma and the Radical Thinkers Who Made Our World Safer (ForeEdge, 2016)
SMALL: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery (Dartmouth College Press/University Press of New England, 2014)
Catherine “Kate” Musemeche, M.D., has been a practicing pediatric surgeon for more than twenty years and an assistant and associate professor of surgery at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston and MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute. Previously Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Director of Pediatric Trauma at the University of New Mexico and now in private practice, she has performed literally thousands of operations on infants and children. One of her essays, “Wake-Up Call” was featured on the NPR program Talk of the Nation, and published on NPR’s website. She is a guest contributor to the NYT’s The Motherlode blog. She lives in Austin, Texas.
About Catherine Musemeche
Dr. Catherine Musemeche, M.D. It takes a decade of training to become a pediatric surgeon. Catherine Musemeche has been one for twenty years.
Dr. Musemeche has been an associate professor of surgery at major medical schools and hospitals and has cared for thousands of critically ill and injured children from newborns to teenagers.
Hurt: the inspiring, untold story of trauma by Catherine Musemeche, M.D.
Hurt: the inspiring, untold story of trauma explores the topic of injury from the viewpoint of doctors, rescuers, patients and their families. HURT walks us through the development of today's advanced trauma centers and demonstrates in graphic detail why they are essential in surviving complex injuries.
Small - Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery by Catherine Musemeche, M.D.
SMALL: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery, Dr. Musemeche's riveting account of life as a pediatric surgeon published by University Press of New England in 2014 has been nominated for the PEN American/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Award.
Dr. Musemeche is also the author of "Wake-Up Call," which was excerpted on the NPR website and included in At the End of Life: True Stories of How We Die. Read an Interview about "Wake Up Call."
Catherine Musemeche is a guest contributor to the New York Times Motherlode column. Her essay, "Lessons," appeared in the journal Creative Nonfiction, Sept. 2015.
Interview: Catherine Musemeche, MD on HURT: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care
OCTOBER 3, 2016 / THELIBRARIANTALKS
banner-hurt
HURT
The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care
by
Catherine Musemeche, M.D.
Genre: Medicine / Medical History
Date of Publication: September 6, 2016
Publisher: ForeEdge
# of pages: 268
The heroic story of the invention of trauma care, from
battlefield triage to level 1 trauma centers
Trauma is a disease of epidemic proportions that preys on the young, killing more Americans up to age thirty-seven than all other afflictions combined. Every year an estimated 2.8 million people are hospitalized for injuries and more than 180,000 people die.
We take for granted that no matter how or where we are injured, someone will call 911 and trained first responders will show up to insert IVs, stop the bleeding, and swiftly deliver us to a hospital staffed by doctors and nurses with the expertise necessary to save our lives. None of this happened on its own.
Told through the eyes of a surgeon who has flown on rescue helicopters, resuscitated patients in trauma centers in Houston and Chicago, and operated on hundreds of trauma victims of all ages, Hurt takes us on a tour of the advancements in injury treatment from the battlefields of the Civil War to the state-of-the-art trauma centers of today.
PRAISE FOR HURT: THE INSPIRING, UNTOLD STORY OF TRAUMA CARE
“Musemeche’s fast-paced medical history mixes the gritty reality of treating life-threatening injuries—including her own heart-pounding experiences as surgeon—with an unfettered optimism about what trauma care can now promise: an assurance that most people will survive even a devastating injury.” —Publishers Weekly
“Hurt is a fascinating journey through the history of trauma care in this country. Musemeche’s unique ability to weave moving, personal stories with intriguing facts takes this book well beyond a great read. It is an education in the human spirit.” —Paul Ruggieri, MD, author of Confessions of a Surgeon and The Cost of Cutting
CLICK TO PURCHASE:
*Book People* *IndieBound*
*Amazon* *Barnes & Noble*
AuthorInterview
How has being a Texan influenced your writing?
As a native Texan I have a free-ranging view of the world and what I’m capable of as a writer.
Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre?
I started with fiction writing and I was terrible at it. When I started writing nonfiction based on my work as a surgeon the words came easier.
Where did your love of books/storytelling/reading/writing/etc. come from?
As a child of the 60’s who grew up in a small town, I looked forward to our weekly trips to the Orange Public Library in Orange, Texas. Books opened the world to me and taught me that anything was possible.
How long have you been writing?
If you count the Catholic Daughter’s Poetry Contest in the eighth grade, I’ve been writing a long time but I’ve been writing nonfiction seriously for about a decade.
What kind(s) of writing do you do?
I write medical nonfiction. I have written essays, blog posts and two books.
What cultural value do you see in writing/reading/storytelling/etc.?
I see my job as a writer to take a complicated topic like operating on babies or trauma care and distill it down to concepts any reader can understand and also to illustrate the drama and high stakes involved in medical practice.
How does your book relate to your spiritual practice or other life path?
As a woman in medicine I have always felt like an underdog so I look for those underdog heroes throughout medical history, especially women and minorities and include their contributions.
What do you think most characterizes your writing?
Taking the reader inside the world of medicine for an up close and personal view of critical decisions and procedures.
What was the hardest part of writing this book?
Writing HURT required a lot of research into the history of trauma care, dating back to the Civil War. I spent a lot of time in The University of Texas libraries, an excellent resource for writers.
Seeing Things That Other People Can’t See: An interview with Catherine A. Musemeche
Posted on May 7, 2012 by Creative Nonfiction 0
In “Wake-Up Call,” pediatric surgeon and attorney Catherine A. Musemeche recounts the emergency of her mother’s ruptured aneurysm from dual perspectives, as a medical professional who is also a concerned daughter. Musemeche has numerous scientific publications;“Wake-Up Call” is her first published creative nonfiction. Interview conducted by Chad Vogler.
***
How did you come to write creative nonfiction, and how do you find it to be intertwined with or distinct from your academic writing?
Creative nonfiction and academic writing are, for me, two entirely different forms. I started writing creative nonfiction later in my career, as I came to appreciate the more human aspects of medical care. As a surgeon, I am trained to lock out all emotion, to focus on the task at hand. I took a break from medicine to attend law school, and when I returned, I saw the human side of medical care much more clearly.
How so?
Oddly enough, part of training in and practicing law is learning to understand human behavior and learning to empathize with clients. Law school teaches you to look at both sides. You learn to argue for and against the same issue, depending on what side you’re on. The best lawyers, especially in front of a jury, are the best communicators. Going to law school made me a better surgeon because I was a more well-rounded person.
Can you say how your processes of composition and revision differ in your academic and creative nonfiction works?
Revision is everything in creative nonfiction. I have learned to embrace that stage of the writing process. When you’re in revision, you have at least written something you care enough about to work on and improve. You can’t shy away from revision. You have to respect it, embrace it, and see where it takes you.
The action in your story often is conveyed through your relationship with your sister, or through your memories of former patients. Why did you write the story in this way?
My mother was flown to, and operated on in, the hospital where I trained in general surgery, so of course that hospital reminded me of the patients I had taken care of there—mostly adults. I’m a pediatric surgeon. I take care of children exclusively, so when my mother was post-op, hooked up the ventilator and all those tubes, it reminded me of those very sick adult patients I wrote about. My sister, on the other hand, was very much a part of the story from the beginning; she worked as a nurse in the ICU where my mother was treated. That was extremely hard on her.
I notice that you often juxtapose arresting details with tedious-sounding procedures; for example, there is the scene where you “scooped out blood with quart-sized stainless steel buckets.” How do you decide which images to include, or omit, in your writing?
My goal when writing about operations or medical care in general is to bring the reader to the bedside, operating room or intensive care unit with me, to have a sensation of what it’s like to see through my eyes and stand in my shoes as a surgeon. I am not a trained writer and never took a single English course in college. What I bring to the table is my ability to transport the reader into my world.
Your descriptive passages are sometimes graphic, but they never seem to make a spectacle of the patient.
I guess it’s the difference between observing as a trained, compassionate physician and gawking like a tourist or someone watching Animal Planet. I have a lot of reverence for the people and situations I work with every day. I hope that comes through.
As you’re a surgeon yourself, I found it interesting that you didn’t attempt to reconstruct the scene of your mother’s surgery. Why not?
I wasn’t in her surgery. I have written very vividly in numerous essays about surgical scenes, but I was at those surgeries or performing them myself. I did write about what has to go right in that kind of operation, and that was as close as I could get.
Did you require some degree of emotional distance from these events in order to write about them?
I started writing about this on the plane ride back to work. I know this will sound strange, but I commute a lot, and when I was at 30,000 feet, I felt closer to my mother. I wrote about it in a lot of different ways, never intending to write “Wake-Up Call,” but that is what eventually came out of all my high altitude scribbles.
Do you mean you felt closer to her on that specific flight back from the hospital?
Yes, I was referring to my return flight, and every flight after for some time. I was commuting between Austin and Seattle, so I was flying a lot. I’m not a deeply religious person, but I knew my mother had left the earth, and if there was a heaven, she was definitely there. She was the kind of person who took care of all the neighbors and strays. She gave and gave and gave to her friends and family. So I knew she was up there somewhere.
Near the conclusion of your story, you write that you’re “armed with too much medical knowledge. It gets in the way of my ability to hope.” Do you feel that writing can help restore hope, or does it help you acknowledge that hope is not always an option?
Physicians by necessity lose a certain innocence as they learn the practice of medicine. They see things no one else can see. They have a knowledge and understanding of what certain medical facts and diagnoses mean for their patients, their family members, and themselves. There’s the movie where the little boy says, “I see dead people.” Well, guess what: Doctors do, too. When we’re walking down the street, we see things that other people don’t see. We see people dying of cancer, people about to have a heart attack, a person with a horrible, devastating disease. They may be in pain. They may be close to the end.
We see these things because we have grown up in a system of medical education that starts in our early 20’s and continues for another decade or more and on into practice. Just like a baseball player who grows up in a farm system and goes on to the big leagues can see a lot happening on the diamond that escapes the rest of us. Same with medicine. We spend the greater part of our lives within the confines of a hospital—a place that houses the sick and dying. That’s where we live, so we can’t help but recognize it.
Do you think there’s such a thing as an ideal death?
I thought my uncle had a perfect death—died at home in his bed, undiscovered for several days. So, he avoided all the angst and hoopla to a certain extent. Not everyone in my family agreed with my perspective. See my recent blog post on this topic, if you care to.
***
Chad Vogler is an editorial assistant at Creative Nonfiction and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh’s MFA program in poetry.
Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma
Care
Publishers Weekly.
263.29 (July 18, 2016): p202.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care
Catherine Musemeche. ForeEdge (UPNE, dist.), $27.95 (256p) ISBN 9781611687965
Pediatric surgeon Musemeche (Small:: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery) vividly brings to life
the evolution of trauma care: "a world of its own" focused on the 2.8 million people hospitalized annually with severe
injuries. The fastpaced development of this field of medicine, fueled by a startling 1966 report on accidental death
and disabilities, has been driven by such littleknown but groundbreaking pioneers as epidemiologist Sue Baker,
whose 1984 publication of the Injury Fact Book documented the "magnitude of the injury threat to public safety"; Phil
Hallen, who created the blueprint for a trained ambulance service; R. Adams Cowley, whose understanding of the lifeordeath
first "golden hour" after injury led to the creation of specialized traumacare units; Charles Drew, whose
bloodbanking system helped "change the course of history"; and the military surgeons in Iraq who both advanced the
treatment of gunshot victims and scientific understanding of the brain's ability to heal. Musemeche's fastpaced
medical history mixes the gritty reality of treating lifethreatening injuriesincluding 1 her own heartpounding
experiences as surgeonwith an unfettered optimism about what trauma care can now promise: an assurance that most
people will survive even a devastating injury. (Sept.)
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
"Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care." Publishers Weekly, 18 July 2016, p. 202. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA459287571&it=r&asid=e7ddcc37c5286941cbf06dbcfdcc69b4.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A459287571
4/10/2017 General OneFile Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1491802859019 2/3
Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of
Pediatric Surgery
Julia McKinnell
Maclean's.
127.36 (Sept. 15, 2014): p69.
COPYRIGHT 2014 Rogers Publishing Ltd.
http://www2.macleans.ca/
Full Text:
SMALL: LIFE AND DEATH ON THE FRONT LINES OF PEDIATRIC SURGERY
Catherine Musemeche
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Operating on infants is not as simple as learning how to sew in miniature, explains Musemeche in this fascinating,
often hairraising account of the state of pediatric surgery.
Musemeche has been working in the field for three decades and writes with the kind of drama that feels as visceral as
viewing a documentary. Be warned that some of the passages aren't for the faint of heart.
Babies aren't just small adults: they're fragile in complicated ways, she writes. Their paperthin skin loses heat rapidly,
requiring surgeons to operate in rooms that feel like cauldrons at 80[degrees] Fahrenheit. Infants born eight weeks
premature are the size of kittens with organs like Jell0 that barely hold together. Often surgeons are operating by the
seat of their pants. "We patch what can be salvaged, taking out dead and malformed pieces. When we are short of
parts, we rearrange and make do. Then we sew it all back together with a needle the size of an eyelash."
In pediatrics, the correct positioning of a breathing tube is measured in millimetres. Musemeche recalls a critical
moment during her training when the breathing tube on a baby boy slipped down too far. Within seconds, his oxygen
level dropped and his heart rate slowed. The anaesthesiologist disconnected the ventilator and started bagging the baby
by hand to inflate his lungs, but in a panic to correct the problem used too much force. "The pressure blew out both
lungs like they were dimestore balloons," writes Musemeche in her adrenalinproducing style. She and her colleague
started CPR using two fingersthe weight of a hand would've compressed the newborn's heart. "We incised both sides
of the chest with our scalpels and slid small drainage tubes between ribs as thin and pliable as Qtips." Air drained
from the boy's chest cavity and his lungs reexpanded.
Today, vast improvements have been made thanks to innovators like Canadianborn James Fischer, a surgeon who
invented a better way to keep intestines alive when a child is born with the contents of their abdomen on the outside.
His Bentec bag is now used in every major hospital in North America. "The days when pediatric surgeons had to
operate with one hand tied behind their backs struggling with adultsized instruments are coming to a close," writes
Musemeche. Now there are cameras small enough to see inside salivary gland ducts, and biopsy tools as tiny as a
speck of dust. What remains the same is the skill, and mental fortitude, required of the surgeons. JULIA
MCKINNELL
McKinnell, Julia
Source Citation (MLA 8
th Edition)
McKinnell, Julia. "Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery." Maclean's, 15 Sept. 2014, p. 69+.
General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA382535046&it=r&asid=fe066c579fbc2b8567912ff057d84ffa.
Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A382535046
Book Review: Hurt’s So Good
BY MIKE RUBIN ON SEP 15, 2016
51Wa3fcYS7L SX320 BO1 204 203 200 57dac042bf147
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I have this thing about doctors: I expect them to know medicine and not much else. I sometimes assume all that doctor stuff they learn consumes their neurons at the expense of other capabilities they might have had.
A foolish premise, I know, but that’s why I was surprised at the breadth and polish of Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care by pediatric surgeon Catherine Musemeche. Boy, can she write! So much for my theory of medicine monopolizing gray matter.
Brains are a big part of Hurt, and I don’t mean just the author’s. Not only does Musemeche devote a quarter of her book to the mechanisms and physical consequences of grisly head trauma, she also offers cyclical reminders of the social and psychological aspects of disabling injuries, and emphasizes civilization’s responsibilities to rehabilitate and re-integrate trauma survivors.
Hurt isn’t simply another life-and-death-on-the-streets compendium; it will entice you with the macabre, then take you back to school. The lesson? It’s never too early to make good patient-care decisions.
I’m a big fan of books with parallel story lines. They’re harder to compose, but when written well, they sustain the sort of suspense that makes you want to read one more chapter before going to bed. Hurt is like that. Musemeche mixes narratives of barely-survivable trauma with historical perspective: the World War I soldier whose mandible and surrounding tissue was blown away when he peeked out of his foxhole in France; “Texas tower” shooter Charles Whitman’s first victim, whose colon, stomach, hip and eight-month-old fetus were torn apart by a single bullet; ABC newsman Bob Woodruff’s long recovery after the left side of his skull was pulverized by a 155-milimeter shell on an Iraqi roadside. In each case, we get not only the presenting problem, but how it was handled with whatever care was customary at the time.
Nineteenth and early-20th-century limitations in medical expertise versus 21st-century advancements is a significant part of Hurt’s value to trauma buffs. Want to know what happened to Civil War combatants hit by .58-caliber minie balls? Amputation of a shredded limb was often the best-case scenario. How about the author’s own experience with two victims of a 1976 car-vs.-train accident in Orange, Texas? Both patients died because neither trauma centers nor EMS, as we know it today, had been invented yet.
Contrast those cases with the story of Katie Holland, a 17-year-old equestrian whose right leg and pelvis were torn apart during a 2007 tractor mishap. Thanks to timely on-scene care and definitive treatment at an elite trauma center, Holland is riding horses again. Musemeche takes us through the little decisions that made big differences in Katie’s recovery, and encourages each of us who plays a role in patient care to help grow a trauma system that is still less than 50 years old.
Hurt’s structure is logical, with sections on transporting trauma cases, treating trauma, and the recovery of its victims. My favorite part is Chapter 10, “The Save,” that details how physicians have handled some of the most gruesome facial trauma since plastic surgery was developed by Dr. Harold Gillies 100 years ago. Fan’s of TV’s turn-of-the-century hospital drama, The Knick, should recognize references to early tissue-harvesting techniques.
Hurt’s not perfect—the subtitle sounds cheesy, and illustrations would be nice—but the writing is first-rate, and the stories should engage both medical professionals and amateurs who are fascinated by the process of putting the appallingly injured back together.
Even better, Hurt is as educational as it is intriguing. Whether you favor reading for recreation or study, you’re going to appreciate this book.
Order on Amazon.
Mike Rubin is a paramedic in Nashville, TN, and a member of EMS World’s editorial advisory board. Contact him at mgr22@prodigy.net.
HURT – REVIEW
SEPTEMBER 28, 2016 MYOTIS9 LEAVE A COMMENT
banner-hurt
HURT
The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care
by
Catherine Musemeche, M.D.
Genre: Medicine / Medical History
Date of Publication: September 6, 2016
Publisher: ForeEdge
# of pages: 268
13235787_972237759563296_185670592_n
cover-lo-res-hurt
The heroic story of the invention of trauma care, from
battlefield triage to level 1 trauma centers
Trauma is a disease of epidemic proportions that preys on the young, killing more Americans up to age thirty-seven than all other afflictions combined. Every year an estimated 2.8 million people are hospitalized for injuries and more than 180,000 people die.
We take for granted that no matter how or where we are injured, someone will call 911 and trained first responders will show up to insert IVs, stop the bleeding, and swiftly deliver us to a hospital staffed by doctors and nurses with the expertise necessary to save our lives. None of this happened on its own.
Told through the eyes of a surgeon who has flown on rescue helicopters, resuscitated patients in trauma centers in Houston and Chicago, and operated on hundreds of trauma victims of all ages, Hurt takes us on a tour of the advancements in injury treatment from the battlefields of the Civil War to the state-of-the-art trauma centers of today.
PRAISE FOR HURT: THE INSPIRING, UNTOLD STORY OF TRAUMA CARE
“Musemeche’s fast-paced medical history mixes the gritty reality of treating life-threatening injuries—including her own heart-pounding experiences as surgeon—with an unfettered optimism about what trauma care can now promise: an assurance that most people will survive even a devastating injury.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Hurt is a fascinating journey through the history of trauma care in this country. Musemeche’s unique ability to weave moving, personal stories with intriguing facts takes this book well beyond a great read. It is an education in the human spirit.” —Paul Ruggieri, MD, author of Confessions of a Surgeon and The Cost of Cutting
CLICK TO PURCHASE:
Book People
IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Review
Hurt Review
How many of us have ever really paid attention to an ambulance ride? Or even to the trauma care personnel in an ER?
In all honesty – none of us who have had the unfortunate opportunity to be picked up by an ambulance or been in a trauma room have ever paid attention. I never would’ve given it a second thought until after reading “Hurt.” I’ve personally seen the inside of a trauma care unit and I took for granted that those trained individuals had always been trained for trauma for many decades. Wow – was I wrong.
This brilliantly written book was not what I was expecting and became a page-turner. Immediately, I was immersed into the trauma care history with personal stories interwoven throughout the book. The author, Catherine Musemeche gives enough information about the noteworthy history of trauma care and does not overwhelm a reader to where they lose interest. Sometimes the telling of history can get bogged down with to many words.
“Hurt” provides the perfect history to make you more knowledgeable about trauma care and if you want more in-depth reading then the source notes at the end of the book are an excellent place to start.
You learn that the basic emergency care of an ambulance waiting nearby has only evolved within the last few decades. Funeral homes were relied upon in those early years of taking accident victims to hospitals.
This small book packs other fantastic information of how trauma care advanced from the Civil War, to helicopters rescuing soldiers during wartime, to how trauma centers formed in the U.S., to how wilderness care evolved.
“Hurt” will forever make me appreciate the trauma and ER personnel more when I see them on the side of road or if I ever personally encounter them again (I hope I don’t). The Wilderness Chapter was my favorite because of all my recent outdoor adventures. Now duct tape will always be in my backpack.
This is a book that will pique your interest from its first chapter to its last. It’s an enlightening book everyone should read to understand how these valuable life-saving techniques evolved, because none of us know when or if we’ll ever be in need of trauma care personnel to save our lives or the lives of loved ones.
AboutTheAuthor
author-pic-hurt
Dr. Catherine Musemeche is a pediatric surgeon, attorney and author who lives in Austin, Texas. She was born and raised in Orange, Texas and attended Lutcher Stark High School. She is a graduate of the University of Texas in Austin, The University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston, The Anderson School of Management in Albuquerque, New Mexico and The University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. Dr. Musemeche is a former surgery professor at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, the MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and the University of New Mexico where she was the Chief of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatric Trauma. She currently works in the field of regulatory medicine.
In addition to publishing extensively in the medical literature, Dr. Musemeche has been a guest contributor to the New York Times. Her writing has also been published on NPR.org, KevinMD.com, in the anthology At the End of Life: True Stories About How We Die and in the Journal of Creative Nonfiction. Her first book, Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery was nominated for the Pen American/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Award and was awarded the Writer’s League of Texas Discovery Prize for nonfiction. Her second book, Hurt: The Inspiring, Untold Story of Trauma Care will be published in September of this year.
Book Review: small – Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery
Created October 17, 2014 by Chivas Owle
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SMALL is a special sneak peek into the beautiful, scary, and often daring world of pediatric surgery. Dr. Catherine Musemeche describes her work with a surgical precision, crafting an experience not often found in literature. From the first pages of the book she invites the reader to scrub in with her and experience the joys, frustrations, wonder, excitement, and anxiety that are the hallmark of her field. It is a world you simultaneously won’t want to leave behind and will not be able to endure a moment longer.
The author states in the introduction that her objective in writing this book was two-fold: to give the reader the experience of being a pediatric surgeon and to bring to life the stories of the giants who made the field possible. The first objective is an unqualified success; the second is a bit more muddled.
The writing style is immersive and leaves the reader feeling like they are standing beside the pediatric surgeon during the surgery (and sometimes right in her shoes). It is easy to imagine yourself looking over her shoulder, looking though magnifying instruments to see the procedures she is using to give her patient a chance at life. You can practically feel the scalpel in your hand. The pace of the stories is lightning fast and full of tension, leaving the reader to feel breathless with anticipation of what will happen next. You can cut the tension she is generating with a knife while seconds tick by during a high-risk operation. Frankly, the tension can be unbearable.
This makes parts of the book difficult to read, as does the inherent tragedy of the miracle of life having been perverted to disastrous ends. The author spares no detail in describing the myriad of ways development can go awry and what she and her elk can (and cannot) do to set them right. You can practically feel the crushing weight of the boulder of hope the parents have placed on her back (or in her hands). People who are squeamish thinking about cutting into babies or inserting needles into teeny tiny veins need not apply. Even people who do not think of themselves as squeamish may learn something new about themselves while reading this book. This is somewhat mitigated by the sense of awe and wonder the author sprinkles throughout the book as well as the poetic language she clearly has a gift with.
Intricate details about the history of the field are given. While some people may find this peek into the history of pediatric surgery to be fascinating, it can also break up the much more compelling parts of the story where the author invites you into the surgery suite and compels you to imagine what it is like to have the huge burden of such a small life in your hands. To put it bluntly, some parts of the book are overly concerned with history lessons rather than the much more interesting experience of being a pediatric surgeon. That said, the author is successful in introducing the founding fathers of the field as well as explaining the difficulty they experienced in being recognized as a distinct specialty. The level of interest in this subject matter will undoubtedly vary. Likewise some parts are overly concerned with lengthy explanations of boring technical details. Perhaps for people without a background in medicine these parts are more interesting.
The difficulty of writing on medical subject matter for a broad audience cannot be understated. Dr. Musemeche does a commendable job breaking down dense subject matter into digestible pieces. For readers with a medical background it can slow down an otherwise breakneck pace and can become boring. Anyone with formal education in medicine who reads books written on the topic for a lay audience has likely experienced the frustration of wanting to skip explanations that are familiar to them and this book will be no exception. She does a good job balancing the need to explain terms, procedures, and medical concepts with keeping the narrative moving forward. The book is easily accessible for both a medical and lay audience.
Crafting a book as compelling as SMALL is no, ahem, small matter. Dr. Musemeche should feel proud of bringing to life the world of pediatric surgery in a way that is accessible to anyone. SMALL is recommended for anyone interested in the field of pediatric surgery as well as anyone who is up for a soul-searching, life-changing roller coaster ride of a book that celebrates the miracle of life while acknowledging the heart ache of loss. You will never look at a neonatal unit or the people who work in them the same way again. Bravo Dr. Musemeche, bravo.