It’s been known for over 60 years that some people aren’t quite the same after anesthesia and major surgery.

It’s your body, it’s your baby. The better informed you are about epidural and spinal anesthesia, the smoother and more pleasant the whole birth experience will be.

Most surgical procedures are trade-offs: there is usually more than one option for any condition, and patient input and preferences must always be considered. This article will guide you through some of the most common surgical sacred cows.

Surgery and its aftermath aren’t easy, but you can decrease your risk of possibly the worst side effect of surgery — nausea and vomiting — with any number of these effective steps.

Being told you have cancer is frightening and a common reaction is to want the cancer excised as quickly as possible. Indeed, this is the way most solid tumors are treated. Cancers of the blood like leukemia or lymphoma are different and can’t be “cut out.” But for solid tumors like tumors of the breast, large intestine, or prostate gland . . .

This article is about something called venous thromboembolism or VTE. To start with and to help you, the reader, better understand what I'm talking about and why it's important, let's start with a story that at first glance has nothing to do with surgery. All the major details of this story are true. The daughter of a nice lady from Georgia and the daughter's boyfriend leave on a two-week trip to Australia. . . .

So you're having surgery. Join the club! Every year 35 million Americans have surgery and the costs make up a significant portion of the 3 trillion dollars our nation drops on health care — certainly not chump change! And what do pretty much all of the other 34,999,999 souls, young and old, have in common with you?