How Your Child Heals
An Inside Look at Common Childhood Ailments
Published on 16. June 2010
Book
Hardback
220 pages
978-1-4422-0203-0 (ISBN)
Description
Good communication between parents and doctors is the cornerstone of getting good care for the child. Doctors are increasingly pressed for time and appointment visits are shorter than ever. Unfortunately, when time is short, what often suffers is explaining to parents what to expect and why. There is another reason explaining often takes a back seat in parent-physician encounters-they are increasingly encounters between strangers. These days many children rarely see the same doctor twice, and more doctor visits happen in emergency departments and walk-in clinics, places where the doctors and families are strangers to each other. In these conditions parents need to learn how to make the most of their brief time with the doctor. This book will help them do that. This book is not a description of a laundry list of pediatric diseases. There are already plenty of those on bookstore shelves. Rather, it uses specific, familiar examples-things like ear infections, asthma attacks, broken bones, and appendicitis-to explain what is happening inside a child's body as it heals. But the book goes beyond that. It does not simply explain; it demonstrates, using vivid narrative techniques so readers can better visualize the processes being described.
Reviews / Votes
You will be amazed by the intense drama of microscopic events taking place within the cells and other organs during the process of healing from childhood illnesses and injuries. Few authors have more experience than Dr. Johnson as a physician in both pediatric clinics and intensive care units as well as a laboratory investigator of immune system pathophysiology. -- K.H. Rhodes, M.D., Mayo Clinic Recognizing the abundance of books offering guidance to parents dealing with the various ailments and injuries that children encounter, Johnson (pediatrics, Mayo Clinic) has taken a different approach. His goal is to explain in understandable language what happens in the normally functioning body, then contrast that, often at the molecular level, with what transpires when things go wrong. While what to do is inevitably touched on, what is occurring and why take precedence. Topics include inflammation, the immune system, fractures, appendicitis, asthma and other allergic reactions, cancer, and signs and symptoms. He also discusses how to help a child heal and what can take place when healing doesn't occur. While not the first book a worried parent would turn to, many will find it helpful in gaining a clearer understanding of what's happening. Because communication in the examining room is often poor, this book, clearly written without condescension, might serve interested parents very well. * Library Journal * Dr. Johnson's factual, interesting, and innovative journey into How Your Child Heals is a fabulous resource for parents wanting to learn more about medical issues facing children, and how to maximize that precious face-to-face time with the doctor. How Your Child Heals is also a tremendous resource for medical professionals working with children, providing excellent explanations for medically "complicated" concepts. As a pediatrician and a mother of four, I highly recommend this fabulous book-should be on every parent's bookshelf! -- Jennifer Canter, MD, MPH, FAAP Board Certified Child Abuse and General Pediatrician & Educational Toy Inventor/Owner of www.playthisway.com Johnson (How to Talk to Your Child's Doctor), a former Director of Pediatric Critical Care Service at the Mayo Clinic and Professor of Pediatrics at Mayo Medical School, tackles a range of childhood injuries, illnesses, and common diseases in a fun and educational way. With chapters covering health issues both basic (ear infections; allergies) and severe (cancer), parents will find a wealth of useful information laid out in a clear, easy-to-follow format. Intent on sharing how 'fascinating, complex events appear to me,' Johnson begins with a very tight focus; in 'Inflammation: A Visit to a Sore Finger' he asks parents to imagine a scenario wherein their 12-year-old comes to them midway through building a backyard fort complaining of a throbbing finger. The typical symptoms of inflammation are there-redness, swelling, heat, and pain. Using this simple scene, Johnson examines the understanding and ignorance of inflammation in Roman times and then delves into a wonderfully comprehensive and wildly entertaining eight-page examination of the process at a cellular level. His Fantastic Voyage approach makes incredibly elaborate processes read like the adventures he believes them to be. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review * A fascinating, and ultimately reassuring tour of a child's body, explaining how these small creatures are programmed to heal. Dr. Johnson offers important advice for parents: stress can delay the process. As most parents intuitively know, cradling and calming your child will provide more than comfort-it can promote cure. Don't let your anxiety spill over onto your child. At the same time, Dr. Johnson tells parents: "If you understand normal healing", you will be able to recognize warnings signs, such as prolonged inflammation, that the body is not doing its job. He also responds to questions that parents often ask: If my child is suffering from an ear-ache, should I ask my doctor for an antibiotic? Is it really true that a parent should "feed a fever"? -- Maggie Mahar, Ph.D., Author of The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much and editor of the Century Foundation's HealthBeatMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lanham, MD
United States
Product notice
Laminated cover
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
625 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4422-0203-0 (9781442202030)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2010
1st Edition
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
€29.59
Available for download
Person
Christopher M. Johnson, M.D., has been practicing pediatrics and talking to the parents of sick and injured children for thirty years. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 1978 from Mayo Medical School and trained in general pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Children's Hospital and in pediatric infectious diseases and pediatric critical care medicine at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine. During much of his career, he was Director of the Pediatric Critical Care Service at the Mayo Clinic and Professor of Pediatrics at Mayo Medical School, as well as Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Mayo Eugenio Litta Children's Hospital. He is the author of Your Critically Ill Child: Life and Death Choices Parents Must Face and How To Talk To Your Child's Doctor: A Handbook for Parents. He writes a regular column on children's health issues for PTA Magazine.