Counting Backwards: A Doctor’s Notes on Anesthesia

A moving exploration of the most common but most mysterious procedure in

medicine.

For many of the 40 million Americans who undergo anesthesia each year, it is

the source of great fear and fascination. From the famous first demonstration

of anesthesia in the Ether Dome at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846 to

todayâs routine procedure that controls anxiety, memory formation, pain

relief, and more, anesthesia has come a long way. But it remains one of the

most extraordinary, unexplored corners of the medical world.

In Counting Backwards, Dr. Henry Jay Przybyloâa pediatric anesthesiologist

with more than thirty years of experienceâdelivers an unforgettable account

of the procedureâs daily dramas and fundamental mysteries. Przybylo has

administered anesthesia more than 30,000 times in his careerâerasing

consciousness, denying memory, and immobilizing the body, and then reversing

all of these effectsâon newborn babies, screaming toddlers, sullen teenagers,

even a gorilla. With compassion and candor, he weaves his experiences into an

intimate exploration of the nature of consciousness, the politics of pain

relief, and the wonder of modern medicine.

Filled with intensity and humanity, with moments of near-disaster, life-saving

success, and simple grace,Counting Backwards is for anyone curious about what

happens after we lose consciousness.