Fascinomas

Fascinomas
Fascinating Medical Mysteries
Clifton K. Meador, M.D.
Create Space
North Charleston, South Carolina
ISBN: 9781491029275 2013
 $ 10.95
153 pages

Fascinoma combines the words 'fascinate' with 'oma.'  The suffix 'oma' usually denotes a growth or tumor. ... Thus a fascinoma is medical slang for an unusually interesting medical case."

Combining the unusual with the study of medicine is the perfect title for this compact collection written in layman terms.

Doctors, fortunately, are usually correct in the assessment and treatment of most patients but it is impossible for a correct diagnosis all the time.  Also complicating this process is the realistic fact that not everyone reacts exactly the same way to every disease.  Most experienced doctors vividly remember those few cases where their diagnosis and treatment did not work.   These are those stories which fortunately are resolved but often require a different approach.

Some patients have unusual allergies which can cause life-threatening situations.   Others can have self-inflicting wounds that unfortunately result in the patient in an endless loop of consultations without ever solving their real problem.  From ticks to cinnamon schnapps to accidental poisonings, these cases daily confound the medical staffs throughout the world.

Fascinomas is a collection of thirty-five situations with real-life patients who names have  been changed.   Also, some of the names of their physicians have also been changed.  Their situations usually first begin in emergency rooms and are frequently referred from one doctor to another who specializes in that particular ailment.  Unfortunately, many of these true life stories and life threatening.

Each selection is only a few pages long written in layman terms and very understandable to the non-medical community.  The cases are fascinating.  With each one the reader is experiencing the examination from the doctor's perspective along with the traditional and non-traditional insight needed to heal each person.  In one case, a nurse solved the patient's dilemma accidentally.

The purpose of this compact collection of case histories is to better inform the medical community of these rare cases which can occur in others.  By not writing this collection as a medical journal, Fascinomas is a quick and easy read even for exhausted emergency room doctors.

Dr. Clifton K. Meador has been practicing medicine for over fifty years.  He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1955 and is an emeritus professor of medicine at Vanderbilt School of Medicine  and Meharry Medical College as well as being selected as chief medical office of Saint Thomas Hospital and dean of the University of Alabama School of Medicine.  Currently, he resides in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Fascinomas" is for everyone who enjoys real-life medical mysteries.