If you are familiar with my background, you’re aware that I spent time at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana and Bellevue Hospital in New York City, both of which have level 1 trauma centers.
During my combined 10 years of surgical training I saw just about every kind of traumatic injury imaginable (including more than a few men who were hit by trains and lived long enough to get to the ER, and the proverbial pulsing butcher knife protruding from the chest). Now that I’m writing fiction, I’ve made this extensive trauma experience, along with my medical and surgical background, the cornerstone of my stories.
In an effort to familiarize potential readers with my writing style and the subject matter of my stories, I’ve published a number of blog posts titled Trauma University. I’ve included photos of surgical instruments, along with explanations of how they are used, and I’ve described how to deal with some of the acute situations and emergencies one might encounter in the ER and on the wards. It is my contention that if you are interested in the blog posts, you will be interested in my stories.
Trauma University – Part 1: What Are These Things?
Trauma University – Part 2: What Are These Things?
Trauma University – Part 3: “Trauma is a Recurrent Disease.”
Trauma University – Part 4: Emergency Tracheostomy
Trauma University – Part 5: Agony
But wait. Don’t stop here. As an added bonus I’ve included the link to my most popular blog post of all time–the emergency room thoracotomy. This post is graphic, explicit, and some of you may find it upsetting, so proceed with caution.
If you linked to the “Crack Him” post and you want even more ER thoracotomy horror, read Part 3 of the Me, Myself, and I Interview . You will learn why the emergency room thoracotomy figures prominently in my stories, and you will read about my first experience with the procedure, which was particularly dramatic and borders on horrifying.
Although I plan to add more posts to the series, I hope you enjoyed the first five plus any other surgery related stuff you may have linked to. If there are particular posts you like, or don’t like (perhaps too graphic or gruesome?), please leave a comment. If there are certain aspects of the operating room, surgery, and surgical diseases that you think might make for a good blog post, let me know by way of the comments section or email and I will see what I can put together.