Product Description Described by one surgeon as ''soul-crushing, diamond-making stress,'' surgery on congenital heart defects is arguably the most difficult of all surgical specialties. Drawing back the hospital curtain for a unique and captivating look at the extraordinary skill and dangerous politics of critical surgery in a pediatric heart center, Michael Ruhlman focuses on the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, where a team of medical specialists—led by idiosyncratic virtuoso Dr. Roger Mee—work on the edge of disaster on a daily basis. Walk on Water offers a rare and dramatic glimpse into a world where the health of innocent children and the hopes of white-knuckled families rest in the hands of all-too-human doctors.
What Others Say
amazing and eye-opening
My daughter was born with a heart defect in 2007. She had had one open-heart surgery by the time I was introduced by word-of-mouth to Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives. I can't say how important it was to me as a parent to read Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives. It gives an insider's view of the world of congenital heart surgery and if you are a parent who wants to know what doctors really think and do, you have to read this - if you are a parent who wants to put all of your faith in the perfection of doctors, then don't read it. My family is very grateful that things have turned out well for my daughter, who is now 15 months, and can't thank her healthcare team enough... but if she needs another surgery, we are going to go to one of the surgeons mentioned in the book. We'll fly her ... Read More
No divine powers, just attention to detail
Roger Mee, the surgeon profiled in this very well-researched and well-written book, would be the first to tell you that he possesses no divine powers. As he stresses, and author Ruhlman emphasizes, the craft of surgery is in attention to detail. An interesting contrast is drawn between Mee, who strikes the reader as very down-to-earth, and a brilliant but difficult intern, who (after Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives was published) took his own life.
The book also contains excellent portraits of Mee's surgical nurse, the difficulties facing anesthesiologists when working with 5-pound neonates, and is very sensitive to the awful, gut-wrenching torment suffered by the new parents, who would rather be anywhere than inside a pediatric ICU.
What it means to be the best
Imagine opening a newborn baby's chest and holding his plum-sized heart in your hands, confident that you can repair it and give the child a healthy life.
Meet Dr. Roger Mee, one of the world's top pediatric heart surgeons. Dr. Mee and his team at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio do just that, two or three times a day, five or six days a week. Author Michael Ruhlman spent a year as an embedded observer in this center of excellence, exploring an elite surgical specialty and the professionals who devote themselves to perfecting it.
"Walk on Water: Inside an Elite Pediatric Surgical Unit" is the wonderful product of that year, and you won't find a more fascinating or inspiring story. Ruhlman gives us a satisfying mix of history, ... Read More
amazing!
I recently became a pediatric cardiac intensive care nurse. I never really understood what it was like to be a family, or cardiac surgeon until reading Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives. It is so amazing that someone could write such as informational insiring book, that has no health background. It makes me proud to be a nurse for this type of unit.
A very focused look at one surgical team and congenital heart defects
I love to read medical non-fiction, and have read Danielle Ofri, Tilda Shalof, Atul Gawande, and about fifteen other authors who have written about their own journey as a medical student, resident, doctor, surgeon, or nurse. The time I spent as a teen in the hospital for a lung problem left me with a strong desire to understand how hospitals work and how people in the medical field think.
Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives's strength and weakness are, strangely, the same thing. Most medical non-fiction that I have read focuses on a variety of procedures, situations, and settings, even when it focuses on one surgeon or doctor. Walk on Water: The Miracle of Saving Children's Lives focused exclusively on congenital heart defects, so over and over again they described similar surgeries - heart surgery on newborns ... Read More
