Customer Reviews

The Scalpel and the Soul: Encounters with Surgery, the Supernatural, and the Healing Power of Hope

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

On February 13, 2003 I had brain tumor surgery that was supposed to take four hours. The surgery lasted five hours... then six hours... then seven hours... then eight ½ hours. Unbeknownst to me, when they removed the tumor, underneath it was a "stump", that had not appeared in any of the pre-surgery MRI's, and when the Doctor started to remove it; there was severe bleeding in my brain. All of this of course was unknown to me. Not just during the surgery, but after I was blessed by the Lord and allowed to survive and eventually go home, I was not told by my twenty-three-year-old son Justin for a couple of weeks. Even if he would have told me during the first week, I wouldn't have been able to comprehend what he was telling me. I didn't know what a bagel was, despite having two bagels and cream cheese for lunch every single day of my life for the last ten years. I didn't know what Jello was. During the first week at home while Justin was helping me dress and undress, I wanted to thank him from the bottom of my heart for the loving care he was giving me. On my dresser in my bedroom I had always kept a Thank You Card my son had given me when he graduated high school five years earlier. In it he had said: "Dad, I wanted to drop you a line to say thanks for everything. You have always stuck by me on any decision I made, right or WRONG. I don't know where I would be without you; on this bumpy road I call life. Thanks for always being there for me!" "I LOVE YOU! JUSTIN". With every fiber in my body and soul, I was trying to point to the card on the dresser and tell him now; I want to thank you... but I couldn't remember what a dresser was!

Before the surgery I told Justin I wasn't afraid to die, as long as I could say goodbye. I also told him that throughout my entire life I had always been so proud of what I had accomplished on a basketball court and that I was the best computer/software salesman in the world; but now as I faced death, I realized that the man he'd become, was my greatest accomplishment.

I had always been blessed with a really quick mind and told Justin and the brain surgeon that if I wound up as a "mind-locked-inside-a-body" I would rather die. After about a week at home my mind started to come back and within two weeks my blessing was continued as I got my memory and quickness back. I feel I was saved for a reason. And that is to help anyone I can who is going to face brain surgery. I feel I can help a patient and their family prepare for what they're going to face better than any Doctor can.

The author Allan J. Hamilton was an accomplished neurosurgeon and is now a professor of neurosurgery and a clinical professor at AHSC. He takes us through his early life and tells us with a "light" humorous touch how he went from being a painting student in college to an English major. One of his early post college jobs was in research and training of raptors to swoop down and kill pigeons so they wouldn't fly into the jet engines of military aircraft. Since this was funded by the government it would keep him from being drafted during Viet Nam. From here the reader is led through an early adulthood that included cutting the kidneys out of rats all day. Allan found that "he enjoyed the feel of the surgical instruments, the press of steel staples, and the dissection of the tissues themselves. His hands began to move faster. His eyes seemed to flash quicker. It was all over: he knew then and there he had to become a surgeon."

I feel it's my responsibility to caution potential readers that the core of this book is not a romantic feel good story. This story is the true narrative of a brain surgeon, and many, many, beautiful, warm, talented, brave, people die during the course of its telling. The author is a very brave writer and Doctor, as he unabashedly crosses the line of science and spirituality (Where I personally feel more Doctors should go.) and shares with the reader his spiritual experiences that range from a native in an African village dreaming of his arrival two days in advance, the ghost/spirit of a deceased Father at the foot of his comatose son's bed, a shaman casting a dead patients painful grasp out of Dr. Hamilton's body and more. I also applaud and congratulate Dr. Hamilton for sharing many of his painful mistakes. These missteps are not only in surgery, but in the interpersonal relationships between Doctor, patient and family. Perhaps the most important lapse in judgment he made was in taking "HOPE" away from a patient. As a *BRAIN-TUMOR-SURVIVOR* I can assure you, that that is as important as the surgeon's scalpel. Dr. Hamilton admits that, where unfortunately many Doctor's refuse to acknowledge it. Dr. Hamilton says he was taught by his mistake; "to never be afraid of "HOPE" as an integral ingredient of any therapeutic approach. He asserts there is no such thing as "FALSE HOPE". "HOPE" is simply the desire to prevail, to survive, and to win against overwhelming odds."

I recommend this gut-wrenching, heart-wrenching, true, sad but uplifting, spiritually genuine book. I am thankful and truly blessed for each day I have been given!

This book, quite literally, is amazing. Hamilton is a Dr. that you wish was your own, someone who deeply cares about not only healing you physically, but emotionally as well. It becomes apparent early on that Hamilton takes healing very seriously and has ideas in store for the reader that prepare the mind for dealing with the realm of the unknown that is medical care. This book is an ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY read for anyone who is battling cancer, or any loved ones. Some of the stories contain within the pages of "The Scalpel and the Soul" are going to move you to tears, undoubtedly. Yet, you will finish the book feeling spiritually cleansed in a way. It's hard to explain, but this book really is astoundingly good and one that certainly should find it's way into your checkout cart immediately.

A five-star rating is not enough for this book, but the system will not allow more.

A 2005 survey of physicians found that 76 percent believe in God and 59 percent believe in an afterlife. Those numbers were quite surprising to me, as I would have expected them to be much less. They are also a little confusing in suggesting that some physicians believe in God without an afterlife. Whatever the numbers, few doctors have the courage to go public with their views. It is simply not the "intelligent" and scientific thing to do. That is definitely not the case with Dr. Allan J. Hamilton, the author of this book. "The truth is that I pity the physician who cannot envision medical science as an integral part of God's creation," he offers. "I worry about a doctor who cannot see healing as an extension of God's love. Religious faith does not threaten scientific integrity..."

Hamilton discusses such phenomena as near-death experiences, death-bed visions, and shamanistic healing. But not all the chapters deal with paranormal phenomena. Some are intriguing stories of faith, hope, and charity recorded by Hamilton during his illustrious career as a neurosurgeon specializing in brain tumors. It was a career that had him tending to patients in the jungles of Africa and the snow caps of Alaska before settling down in the dry flatlands of Arizona.

The concluding chapter should give the skeptic much to ponder. It is about a woman who was "dead" by every clinical criterion used in medicine - her was heart stopped and brain waves disappeared. Yet, she later related conversations that went on among the operating room personnel while she was clinically dead. It is much like the famous "Pam Reynolds" case, but in some respects more evidential of a separation of mind from brain. "In fact, this particular patient's consciousness seemed to thrive despite substantial evidence that her brain was concurrently dead, incapable of generating a single electrical impulse," Hamilton states.

The book is inspirational, educational, intriguing and entertaining. I intend to buy copies for my two daughters, both registered nurses. My guess is that they can learn more from this book than from a year of graduate study.

Not being an avid reader or in the medical field, I could not put this book down. The Scalpel and the Soul is inspiring and intriguing. I felt like I was in the room with each patient, I shared smiles and tears with every chapter. This is a must read for one and all. Dr. Allan Hamilton is truly a phenomenal author and individual. Overall, when you finish the book, the only word that comes to mind is MARVELOUS!!!!

Quite simply, this is a fantastic read. Like any good book, Scalpel and the Soul takes you on a journey; a journey that masterfully weaves the yin of modern medicine with the yang of spirituality.

Dr. Hamilton's ability to make his stories come alive via superb prose is without doubt the high point of Scalpel. I am very much a layman when it comes to all things medicine, but I couldn't help but think I was at his side during the most dramatic, inspiring, and heart-wrenching moments of his life and career.

This is as good a page-turner as I've come across lately. I'd submit that Scalpel ought to be required reading for all who've stood above operating tables, all who've laid upon them, and anyone in search of a powerful spiritual journey.

This was a very good book..easy to relate to. Dr. Hamilton has lived many lives worth of stories and reading them is enlightening. You should read this book it's a good read for anyone.

Very soon after i opened Dr. Hamilton's book i was magnetized to it, and amazed at how his life as a neurosurgeon came together. His stories are all very rich in emotion, shocking, and will keep you reading for more. The patients he treated in his book were all very interesting people with hopeful stories about life and where we will go after. Dr. Hamilton did a wonderful job at putting these stories together in a way that people from all walks of life can enjoy and gain spiritually from

Although I am usually one to skip right through a scene on television depicting live surgery, Scalpel and the Soul immediately reached out and grabbed me because it provided a unique first hand description pertaining to the thought process which occurs during surgical procedures. Dr. Allan Hamilton provided exposure to a very esoteric phenomenon pertaining to the psychological conflicts that arise in the midst of prolonging a life. Scalpel and the Soul is an incredible integration of a surgeon's mind and body as it is revealed in the autobiographical journey of Dr. Hamilton's life and the patients he encountered. Each time I took a break to gather my thoughts I found myself right back into the next chapter. A must read that will take you to the edge of life and beyond!

Like Dr. Hamilton, I am also a brain surgeon. Reading The Scalpel and the Soul was akin to being on his shoulder as an observer and participant. The adage, well known to all surgeons, is "A chance to cut is a chance to cure." Although there is truth in this, Dr. Hamilton adds that assistance from a higher power is available to help. As surgeons, we are often unaware of this higher power being active and at work--but it is. I enjoyed this book.

Dr. John L. Turner
Hilo, Hawaii

I generally do not like doctor books---either too much tech information or too much fuzzy wuzzy thinking. Not here. Despite the very, very sad stories he tells, you finish the book uplifted. There is a world beyond what we see and feel or, as my mom often said, there is a story on the surface and one beneath it. Added plus: the guy is a very good writer, fluid and to the point. He also is honest about what he does---you must inflict pain to prevent more of it; when you "practice" surgery there will be patients who die because the doctor is still learning the art and craft but others saved later because of the lessons learned; a doctor must care but not have his or her ego come before the need of the patients. He also has a summary of the 20 points he would like the reader to take away from the book. The best story is the one of the man who could not talk but boy could he sing!