Before the Scalpel by Panchali Dhar, MD

What Everyone Should Know About Anesthesia
Before the Scalpel by Panchali Dhar, MD

I had the opportunity to help promote this wonderful new resource in a virtual blog tour. My regular visitors have gotten to know about a lot of great books I've reviewed that were written by tour clients. This is definitely another one that I highly recommend, but this one is different. The content of this book can and very possibly will, affect your health and the health of your loved ones.

Dr Panchali Dhar is a respected anesthesiologist in New York and she has written a great book that gives so much great information. It is not a dry medical text book - not at all. The layout is very interesting and colorful. Since I wrote my first non fiction books, I've become much more aware of the layout of books and this layout is very good and adds a new dimension to the content.

To see a sample of the information and the contents of the book, you can view this PDF - http://www.tellmepress.com/publ_images/pdf/before_the_scalpel.pdf

Some of the Topics Included in the Book Include:

The Anesthesiologist
What sort of choices are there
Understand the operating room, monitors etc
Recovery after surgery - including managing pain
Plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery
Concerns for overweight patients
Anesthesia and childbirth
Concerns for children when anesthesia is used
Dental anesthesia
Nausea and vomiting and how to take care of yourself when you wake
There is also the history and timeline of anesthesia along with a glossary and more

This book is simply packed with everything you need to know to understand anesthesia and the tools you need to have an educated conversation with your doctor before surgery.

At the end of each chapter Dr Dhar provides what she calls "Prescriptives:Be a Better Consumer". These sections ask you questions to review important points from the chapters. These questions will also prepare you to know what you need to tell your doctor - what information will make a difference for you during and after surgery.

From the added tidbits that are included in each chapter, the pictures and even a couple of cartoon, the tips and the "Panchlines" are all parts of the book that make it very readable, easy to understand and beneficial for you. I highly recommend that everyone should read this book if they are unsure about anesthesia. As I've frequently said during this virtual blog tour, when you are lying on the operating table is NOT the time to start thinking about anesthesia.

This is some additional information that we compiled for the tour that you may like to see:

To view videos about various elements of the book - visit

Concerns for Overweight Patients - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUVfO96wDxA

Preparing for Surgery - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6gDu1sl4DI

Plastic Surgery Patients - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-N8O_qbsJE

Surgery Concerns for Children - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk5N5w2m208


To read the full table of contents, visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2009/01/before-scalpel-by-panchali-dhar-table.html

This is the publisher's sale page - http://www.tellmepress.com/product.php/Before-the-Scalpel/3/

To buy your copy - http://www.amazon.com/Before-Scalpel-Everyone-Should-Anesthesia/dp/0981645305

Nikki Leigh