DO NO HARM (2) by Rachael Shek https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery - Henry Marsh en-us 2016-12-04 18:06:56 UTC 2016-12-08 22:22:28 UTC hello@padlet.com Do No Harm (2) ryhshek https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/141611198 2016-12-04 18:08:04 UTC https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/141611198 Quotes ryhshek https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/141611301 "This time I easily open the clip and slip the blades over the aneurysm. I open my hand and the blades close, neatly clipping the aneurysm. The aneurysm, defeated, shrivels since it is now no longer filling with high pressure arterial blood. I sigh deeply - I always do when the aneurysm is finally dealt with. But to my horror I find that this second applicator has an even more deadly fault than the first: having closed the clip over the aneurysm the applicator refuses to release the clip. I cannot move my hand for fear of tearing the minute, fragile aneurysm off the middle cerebral artery  and causing a catastrophic haemorrhage. I sit there motionless, with my had frozen in space. If an aneurysm is form off its parent artery you can usually only stop the bleeding my sacrificing the artery, which will result in a major stroke"(30).
I love this passage because it shows how much like a novel this book is. The descriptions of the current actions make it feel like the reader is right along side Henry Marsh as he performs these surgeries. This specific passage was especially appealing to me because of its element of suspense. Marsh doesn't tell the reader if the surgery is successful right away, you have to read word by word of the book on edge. When I read, "I sigh deeply - I always do when the aneurysm is finally dealt with"(30), I felt myself release the breath I was subconsciously holding as well. Then, the beginning of the next sentence caught me off guard: "But to my horror..."(30). This caused all my relief to go away and I was instantly filled with suspense again. And this is why I like Marsh's writing. It's like reading any novel, or even like watching a movie. You never know what's going to happen next. It keeps you on your toes.
]]> 2016-12-04 18:09:23 UTC https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/141611301 Unknown Words ryhshek https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/142440595 "I separate the two lobes of the brain by gently scratching them apart, cutting the minute strands of arachnoid that bind them together with a pair of microscope scissors in one hand while I keep the view clear of spinal fluid and blood with a small sucker"(27).

Arachnoid (n.) - a fine, delicate membrane, the middle one of the three membranes or meninges that surround the brain and spinal cord, situated between the dura mater and the pia mater.

Because the arachnoid is such a delicate part of the body, a surgeon must be careful when operating around it.

"'Forty-six-year-old man with a right temporal clot with intraventricular extension in one of the local hospitals - looks like an underlying AVM'"(42).

Intraventricular (adj.) - situated within, occurring within, or administered into a ventricle.

If you have an growing intraventricular tumor, that could be very hard to remove.

]]> 2016-12-07 22:41:55 UTC https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/142440595 Henry Marsh as a 'junior houseman' in 1979 ryhshek https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/142690826 A houseman is a doctor who has a junior post in a hospital and usually sleeps there.]]> 2016-12-08 21:32:55 UTC https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/142690826 ryhshek https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/142691138 2016-12-08 21:35:18 UTC https://padlet.com/ryhshek/qfzylm1o51hl/wish/142691138