Hydrocephalus: An Owner's Manual

by Edison McDaniels

This is a 6,000 word monograph on hydrocephalus, written by a neurosurgeon for the lay patient and his/her family. This is an essential guide for families living with hydrocephalus, a chronic condition in which spinal fluid builds up in the head and does not circulate property. Although hydrocephalus can be life-threatening & requires life-long observation, the treatment is generally straight forward and not onerous on a daily basis. This monograph includes information about vp shunts, as well as a mother's companion and answers to common questions and scenarios. This is not an exhaustive treatment of the subject, but rather an attempt to compile answers to a number of the questions I have been asked over the years. I wanted it to be brief and informative to the lay reader, while at the same time useful. Some may find it a bit too simple, but for them there are many long and exhaustive books available. This will also answer many of the questions patients and families have when first diagnosed.

40 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 10, 2013

About the author

Audiobook narrator and producer, as well as an author myself..

My hallmark in fiction: ordinary folks caught in the maelstrom of extraordinary circumstances. My tales are calculated to keep you in suspense & my writing is intense, no doubt about it. I like to think of it as life charged to the highest intensity. Engaging, heartbreaking fiction that doesn't disappoint.

In the words of Charles Dickens, AMERICAN NOTES: "All that is loathsome, drooping, or decayed is here."

My stories run to the darker aspects of human nature, but no gratuitous violence. I paint pictures with words. I am one of those who believes a story is a found thing, like digging a fossil out of the ground. At first you work with big tools, taking large swipes. Later, the tools get more refined and the picking becomes more focused as you try to get the thing out with the least damage possible. In this regard, writing is all about revision, revision, revision. I can't stress the importance of that idea. Revision. And you have to read. Can't be a writer if you don't read. Period.

I am a surgeon in the daytime. I rarely write about medicine and surgery as the prime subject, but frequently feature some offbeat account of medicine or surgery in my stories. I take great pride in my ability to write for the masses (for lay readers). I do often include graphic scenes of surgery—not necessarily in an operating room and not necessarily by a trained surgeon—so if you are the sort who covets shows like Trauma in the ER or New York Med, or you secretly long to be a voyeur amid the trauma and carnage of a big city ER (Bellevue in New York, Charity in New Orleans—which was destroyed by Katrina, Parkland in Dallas, MLK in Los Angeles, etc) my books are probably for you. As noted above, I put ordinary people in extraordinary situations. The machinations of how they squirm is the story.

Influences (in no particular order) include Cormac McCarthy, Alexander Laing (The Cadaver of Gideon Wyck is a spectacular & classic horror story from the 1930's), Stephen King, Neville Shute, Ray Bradbury, Shelby Foote, Erich Remarque, Ken Follett, Antony Beevor, Lovecraft, Mary Shelley, Herman Melville, & many, many others.

You can follow me on twitter, @surgeonwriter. Thanks!