Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole

Nielsen, Jerri

ISBN 10: 1587880121 ISBN 13: 9781587880124

Publisher: Brilliance Audio, 2001

Synopsis

The Antarctic winter, with temperatures 100 degrees below zero, shuts supply lines down completely; conditions are too treacherous for planes and boats and the only connection with the rest of the world is satellite hook-up. During the long winter of 1999, Dr. Nielsen, the only physician on a staff of forty-one people, discovered a lump in her breast. Consulting via satellite e-mail with doctors in the U.S., she was forced to perform a biopsy and in June began to treat herself with chemotherapy, in order to insure that she could survive until conditions permitted her rescue in October. A daring rescue by the Air National Guard ensued, who landed, dropped off a replacement physician, and in less than five minutes took off with Dr. Nielsen. Set in one of the most remote and desolate yet strikingly beautiful landscapes on earth, Jerri Nielsen's narrative of her transforming experiences is a thrilling adventure of researchers and scientists embattled by a hostile environment, a chronicle of marvels - and limits - of modern medical technology, and a penetrating exploration of the dynamics of an isolated, intensely connected community faced with adversity. But at its core this is a powerfully moving drama of one woman's voyage of self-discovery and courage and the fierce dedication of scores of colleagues - both known and unknown to her - whose aid proved to be her salvation.

About this title

Review:

Serving as doctor to the Americans "wintering over" at the South Pole in 1999, Jerri Nielsen made headlines when she discovered a lump in her breast that a self-administered biopsy revealed to be an aggressive, fast-growing cancer. No flights in or out of Antarctica are possible during the continent's long winter, and Nielsen's account of giving herself chemotherapy while she and her fellow "Polies" waited for the weather to break is even more gripping than the news reports at the time. She's candid about her pain and fear; the media battle waged by her embittered ex-husband makes her ordeal even more challenging. Interestingly enough, however, this high drama does not overshadow Nielsen's deeper narrative of a woman who came "to the Ice" seeking new meaning in a life shattered by divorce and estrangement from her children. In the back-to-basics world of Antarctic medicine, with outdated equipment, few supplies, and no assistants, she rediscovered her vocation as a doctor, free from the imperatives of corporate-directed medicine. More importantly, Nielsen found spiritual solace in the world's most extreme environment, where she was "introduced slowly to the notion of giving more than you have and using less than you need ... of knowing that all you really own are your own thoughts." She makes the glories of the Pole so palpable that, by the end, readers will not even be surprised when she signs an e-mail to her family, "from the wonderful Ice." --Wendy Smith

About the Author:

Dr. Jerri Nielsen lives in Ohio and is the mother of three children. She continues to practice medicine and intends to do a lot of traveling.

About this edition

• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1587880121
• ISBN 13: 9781587880124
• Binding: Audio Cassette