Seems Like Yesterday: A Surgeon's OdysseyAutobiography is the venue that this retired general surgeon has taken to describe the medical evolution of the 20th century physician. Born, reared, & schooled in metropolitan Washington, D.C., the author explains how events displaced him from his comfortable nurturing & abruptly thrust him into adventures befitting Marco Polo. Educated in the pre-antibiotic & ether drip anesthesia era, the author was witness to the dramatic changes in the next 40 years. Guadalcanal at the beginning of WWII & subsequently the Philippines were his practical training in emergency, tropical, & military medicine. After the war, the reader shares the author's four strenuous years of surgical training & subsequent busy private practice. Sabbaticals to Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, & Saigon on missions of both mercy & education arevividly described. Photographs are couched in several parts of the book, showing some scenery, personal touches & graphic details of some less than pleasant times. For the sons & daughters of the author's era, reading the book is an education in our medical heritage. |
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