Counting Backwards: A Doctor's Notes on Anesthesia

“An engaging and illuminating exploration of the invisible medical specialty that is anesthesia.… Counting Backwards pulls back the veil on the very act of being alive.” ―Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of What Patients Say, What Doctors Hear

For many of the 40 million Americans who undergo it each year, anesthesia is the source of great fear and fascination. In Counting Backwards, pediatric anesthesiologist Dr. Henry Jay Przybylo delivers an unforgettable account of the procedure’s daily dramas and fundamental mysteries. Przybylo has administered anesthesia more than 30,000 times over his thirty-year career: on newborn babies, screaming toddlers, sullen teenagers, even a gorilla. Filled with intense moments of near-disaster, life-saving successes, and simple grace, Counting Backwards is for anyone curious about what happens after we lose consciousness.

Henry Jay Przybylo, MD is an associate professor of anesthesiology at Northwestern University School of Medicine. He also holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from Goucher College. He lives in Chicago.