Books
Everyone’s probably heard about CNN’s Beck and his hemorrhoids surgery gone awry. For those who haven’t, basically he went in for an outpatient procedure, woke with uncontrollable pain that the surgeons weren’t able to control and ended up spending 5 days in the hospital.
Then he went home and produced a video tape about his experiences and how awful they were. His conclusion:
“The politicians are right that we have a health care crisis in this country,” he said. “Where they’re wrong is that it’s not going to be solved by government, it’s not going to be solved by getting the HMOs out, it’s not going to be solved by a new marbled-lobby health center,” he said. “It’s by hiring people that understand about caring for people.”
Right….we doctors spend four years in college, four years in med school (at the cost of $100,000 +), four to seven years in additional training working 80 hour weeks for peanuts, just so we can face the threat of malpractice suits, insurance company hassles, and patients like Beck who think they’re the only patients in the world….Why?
And what about the nurses–don’t even get me started on the long hours, low pay and crap they have to put up with.
Seriously who would want a job like this? Who would want to work every holiday that your family has off, nights/days/swing shifts, weekends, be on call to drop everything to answer a summons from a patient? Does that sound like the kind of job you would want?
Unless you cared…..which of course is why we do what we do.
And why, if Mr. Beck felt less than appreciated by the numerous medical personnel he was involved with, then he might want to either look in the mirror at his own actions and attitudes as well as what it is about our health care system (the system he says doesn’t need any government or HMO intervention to make constructive change) that has sucked the life and compassion from people who have sacrificed so much in the name of caring?
No, medical providers aren’t perfect. But we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t care….
Books
This post originally appeared at Romance Worth Killing For where I blog monthly about fun medical facts for your fiction.
We all love to throw our Heroes curve balls, move them out of their comfort zones, give them physical challenges to overcome, and place them in life or death situations.
One of the most common of these is the wilderness–the stuff of Grimm fairy tales, boogey men and primal nightmares. But what to do once we get our characters out there in the deep, dark woods– how do we realistically get them back to the ranch in one piece?
Let’s use an example from one of my old manuscripts. The hero, Lucky, is a city boy, an ATF agent whose cover has been blown by some renegade militia types. Poor Lucky, he’s been shot, the bad guys are hot on his tail, and the only place to go is into a wilderness area. Oh yeah, it’s January and a nor’easter is heading right toward him.
What does our hero need right now to ensure his survival?
The most important survival tool is attitude. Not just a stubborn will to live, although that is vital, but also the ability to focus and prioritize, to accept that something bad has happened and move on, and to improvise, think outside the box.
Aron Ralston, the climber who amputated his own hand when pinned beneath a boulder, didn’t waste time on self-recrimination. He spent five days improvising various methods to either move that boulder, attract help or free his arm. At the same time he also attended to his other physical needs: temperature stability, water, food.
Top of my wish list if I was stranded anywhere: duct tape.
Got a broken arm or leg? Duct tape holds your splint together. Deep cut or gunshot wound (as in Lucky’s case)–duct tape holds the edges together or secures a dressing. By the way, your heroine can really help out if she’s prepared for that time of the month– maxipads make ideal dressings.
Need to build a shelter? Or make a pair of sunglasses so you don’t go snow blind (punch a small hole in the duct tape for each eye to look through); wrap it around your ankles as gaiters to keep snow or water out; tape up a sprain; make a sling; blaze a trail; patch up some blisters (once applied, try not to remove it until you’re back in civilization or major ouch); you can even fashion clothing from it!
A few trash bags can also come in handy. Lightweight, easy to carry, cheap and versatile. Got rain or snow–instant rain poncho. Need a shelter to bivouac the night in? Fill one with dry pine boughs or leaves, and you’ve got an itchy but warm sleeping bag. Or cut it open and use your duct tape to fashion a “pup” tent. You can also cut strips to blaze a trail or to use as lashing. Caught wearing sneakers in the snow? Make goulashes.
For first aid it gives you waterproof dressing material, also use the bag part (Ziploc bags work great for this as well) to flush out and irrigate wounds or burns. Just cut the corner off the bottom of the bag, fill with water, hold the top tight (or duct tape it) and poke a hole in the corner, and you have a high pressure irrigation system. And if you need to carry water but didn’t bring your Camelbak, you can haul as much as you can carry.
What if you are caught out in the woods with “nothing”? Do a quick inventory, you’d be surprised what you really do have. Nasty gash on the scalp– tie the edges together with your hair; it worked for the frontier pioneers. Got a broken arm or collarbone? Use the cuff button to attach your shirt sleeve to your collar and viola, instant sling.
Bitten by a snake and no Acewrap handy to use as a compression dressing to stop the venom flow–use your sock. (Note: compression means you can slip one finger beneath it–NOT a tourniquet, and please, no cutting and sucking snake bites! Depending on the kind of snake, almost half are “dry” or venom free, and all you’re doing is making it worse by adding a laceration and your dirty mouth germs to an area that’s already damaged.)
Fall in the water and need a flotation device? If you’re wearing anything water repellant, take it off, tie it like a balloon and blow it up. This technique is one of the reasons people in Alaska swear by Carhartt clothing–there have been several people there literally saved by their pants!
Need lashing for a shelter or to make a splint? Shoelaces or your belt. Need a signal mirror–wearing any jewelry? Want a compass–use your watch, or make a “sundial” compass with a stick. Got matches but no dry tinder? How about the lining from inside your coat or fuzz from your socks?
You get the idea. Remember, attitude is the most important survival tool there is, followed by imagination. Writers, with our positive, no quit attitudes and familiarity with the realm of possibilities, should make for the perfect survivalists!
Anyone with their own wilderness survival techniques or stories? I’d love to hear them!
Thanks for reading!
CJ
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I know I haven’t posted in a while, but it’s because I’ve been working hard to get my new website up and running.
Check it out at http://www.cjlyons.net and let me know what you think!
I’ll also be moving as many of my older wordpress blog posts over here so everything will be in one place. So if you’re trying to find something and it’s gone, please be patient.
Thanks!
CJ
Books
I love talking with mystery/suspense authors because we can talk about the fun things in life, including the best ways to kill someone and get away with it.
So, given the winter holiday season, I thought I’d throw out a few ideas on Homicidal Holiday Hazards.
1. O Tantebaum—not only do they make for excellent firestarters (arson, anyone?) but think of the possibilities of actually obtaining one. Imagine: deserted tree farm, you and your victim far out of sight of anyone else, it’s getting dark, and there you are with hatchet and saw in hand….or better yet, cutting down and hauling a live tree is a great time to induce a heart attack and given the holiday rush, it probably would go undetected as the medical examiner would be too busy to do more than a cursory examination.
2. Auld Lang Sang—do you have any idea how easy it is to slip poison into New Year’s champagne or eggnog? The possibilities are endless: antifreeze in a sweet drink, an overdose of barbiturates or sedatives in an alcoholic one….
3. Dradle, Dradle—holidays with all that candy and cheating on diets make for a perfect time to induce a diabetic coma in those old folks with fat life insurance policies. Just swap out their “sugar” pills or insulin for a few days, ply them with some gelt or candy canes and pouf! There goes granny, here comes the inheritance!
4. Up on the Rooftop–Hmmm….climbing up rickety ladders, hammer and nails and aluminum gutters and electrical lights, snow and ice all around—anyone else seeing a great set up for “accidental” electrocutions or slip and falls???
5. Over the Hills—all that ice and snow (for those of you in northern climes) not to mention crazy, hectic drivers all rushing hither and yon make for a perfect recipe for disaster. Mix a slashed brake-line with faulty power steering, add a little too much holiday cheer and voila!
And then there’s always the cold and hypothermia and all the possibilities the wilderness can offer us. But I’ll save that for another blog!
In the meantime, what’s your favorite Homicidal Holiday Hazard? C’mon, if you can’t talk about it with your fellow suspense authors, who can you talk to?
I’d love to hear them!
CJ
PS: I feel honor-bound (the pediatric ER doc in me) to point out that the holidays actually do pose a very real risk, especially to children and pets. Clean up ALL remnants of alcohol after parties before you go to bed (kids tend to get up early and love sipping at all the left over drinks and it only takes a few swallows of alcohol to poison a little one) and please dress everyone warm, even for short trips. Always, always buckle up and have a designated driver! Happy–and safe–holidays to all!!
Books
…and it’s a doozy!!! From Publishers Weekly:
Lifelines
CJ Lyons. Berkley, $7.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-425-22082-5
In Lyons’s spot-on debut, Dr. Lydia Fiore’s first case as attending emergency physician at Pittsburgh’s Angels of Mercy Hospital goes much better than her second: Jonah, the son of the chief of surgery, dies despite her best efforts. Put on immediate suspension pending a review and with no clear answers as to why the young man died, Lydia initiates her own investigation. To Lydia, the autopsy points to murder, and the team that worked on Jonah with her—med student Amanda, resident Gina and nurse Nora—agrees. As bodies begin to pile up in the morgue, fans of reading about medical procedures up close won’t be disappointed. And the gore (and romance with a paramedic) doesn’t slow down the action: Lyons delivers a breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller. (Mar.)
