Let Judy die, let her die with dignity, Judy’s mother pleads with Jeej. Let Judy die, this is madness, assert Jeej’s senior colleagues, insisting he not waste hospital resources. Under mounting pressure, Jeej agrees to withdraw antibiotic therapy from Judy for four days, but he refuses to stop feeding her artificially. If the bacteria doing…
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The Hidden Secret of Brain Injury: Hypothalamus Dysfunction
“I’m going to get off the atenolol,” I told my GP, who promptly laughed at me. Well, I might, just might, have the last laugh. I was put on atenolol (a beta blocker) 7 years after I suffered from a closed head injury and began 7 years of 120+ heart rate, of yo-yoing blood pressure,…
Lifeliner: Chapter 5 Podcast, Garbage-Bag Dressings
Judy’s skin has been starving, like the rest of her body, and cannot hold the stitches anymore. Her surgical wound has opened up, creating a maw through which they can see her insides — and smell them too. The nurses have to come up with a unique way to dress this hole, keep the sheets…
Rejection Get Away From Me
The envelope is thin. There’s no return address, but I know. It’s from a literary agent, one of many I wrote asking them to consider representing my latest book. I slit it open. Dear Author, “Dear Author”? Whadya mean “Dear Author”?! I spent hours reading guidelines, and y’all said: read the books we agent, find…
Lifeliner: Chapter 4 Podcast, Dr. Cowboy
Judy protests as she’s slid into the ambulance, standing in the dark, waiting to move her from the suburban hospital to the big downtown teaching hospital Toronto General Hospital. This is all too much drama for her, but Dr. Jeejeebhoy awaits her, with his promise of life. She wants to live so much. Yet she’s…
Lifeliner on Apple iTunes
I’m pleased to announce that Lifeliner: The Judy Taylor Story is now live on iTunes! For free!!! Podcast one chapter at a time, it makes for a good way to make a commute go faster, to inspire you in only 15 minutes. I will be podcasting a new chapter on my website each Saturday until…
Lifeliner: Chapter 3 Podcast, Surgeries and Starvation
Judy is at Scarborough General Hospital, undergoing emergency surgery while Cliff waits anxiously at home with his neighbour. The surgeon calls him in the wee hours with good news. Cliff is ecstatic. But not for long. Soon the pain rises again, stronger even than post-operative pain. Another surgeon opens her up again and shock stills…
Lifeliner: Chapter 2 Podcast, Shunts!
Dr. Khursheed N. Jeejeebhoy has come to Toronto, Canada to practice his brand of medicine, as taught to him by his Zoroastrian grandmother. But as the newbie and one of only two minority doctors on staff at Toronto General Hospital, he gets the tough cases, the one no one else wants, and now one of…
Lifeliner: Chapter 1 Podcast, Back in One Hour
Judy Taylor had a simple dream for her life: grow up and have kids. But fate has other plans, and they come upon her rather painfully a few years after attaining her dream, her dream of a suburban life with husband Cliff, who works in sales, and their three daughters, ages 13 to 8. Chapter…