Cell - Hardcover

Cook, Robin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399166300 ISBN 13: 9780399166303

Verlag: Penguin US, 2014

Inhaltsangabe

Entering a profession on the brink of radical transformation by a new smartphone technology capable of diagnosing and treating patients, radiology resident George Wilson is horrified when his fiancée and several patients die after beta testing the technology. By the best-selling author of Intervention.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Dr. Robin Cook is the author of thirty previous books, most recently Nano, and is credited with popularizing the medical thriller with his wildly successful first novel,Coma. He divides his time between Boston and Florida. His most recent bestsellers includeDeath Benefit, Cure, and Intervention.

Dr. Robin Cook is the author of thirty previous books, most recently Nano, and is credited with popularizing the medical thriller with his wildly successful first novel,Coma. He divides his time between Boston and Florida. His most recent bestsellers includeDeath Benefit, Cure, and Intervention.

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This book is dedicated to the democratization of medicine.

PROLOGUE

T he insulin molecules invaded like a miniature marauding army. Rapidly infiltrating the veins, they rushed headlong into the heart, to be pumped out through the arteries. Within seconds the invasion spread throughout the body, latching on to receptors on the cell membranes and causing the cellular gates for glucose to open. Instantly glucose poured into all the cells of the body, resulting in a precipitous fall of the glucose level in the bloodstream. The first cells to be adversely affected by this were the nerve cells, which cannot store glucose and need a highly regulated, constant supply of the sugar to function. As minutes passed and the insulin onslaught continued, the neurons, particularly those of the brain, rapidly became starved of their lifeblood glucose and their function began to falter. Soon they began either to send errant messages or to send none at all. Then they began to die. . . .

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014, 2:35 A.M.

Kasey Lynch lurched awake. The nightmare had been a bad one, filled with progressing anxiety and terror. She was disoriented, wondering where she was. Then she remembered; she was sleeping in the apartment of her fiancé, Dr. George Wilson. She'd been staying at George's place two or three times a week for the past month, whenever he wasn't on call as a third-year radiology resident at the L.A. University Medical Center. He was sleeping next to her now. She could hear his soft, rhythmic, slumber-infused breathing.

- - -

Kasey was a graduate student specializing in child psychology at L.A. University, and for the past year she'd been volunteering in the pediatric department at the medical center. It was there that she met George. When she brought her pediatric patients into the radiology department for imaging studies, she immediately took note of George's easy confidence and his way with patients, particularly children. The handsome face and crooked smile didn't hurt, either. He was warm and personable, qualities she liked to think were part of her own personality. Just a mere four weeks before, they'd become engaged, although they still hadn't set a specific date for the wedding. The proposal was a pleasant surprise, perhaps because of her careful nature in all things "permanent," due to the reality of her health issues. But both she and George had been smitten, and they joked that the rapidity of their relationship was because they'd been unknowingly searching for each other for years.

But Kasey was not thinking any of this at 2:35 in the morning. Instead she knew instantly upon waking that something was wrong, very wrong! This was far worse than just a bad nightmare, especially because she was sopping wet with sweat. Having had type 1 diabetes since she was a child, she knew all too well what it was: hypoglycemia. Her blood sugar was low. She had experienced it on a number of occasions in the past and knew she needed sugar, and needed it fast.

Kasey started to get up, but the room began to spin. Her head flopped back against the pillow as a brief overwhelming dizziness engulfed her and her heart pounded rapidly. Her hand groped for her cell phone. She was always careful to have it within reach and had left it charging on the bedside table. Her thought was that she would speak with her new doctor for reassurance while she ran to the kitchen to get some orange juice. The new physician was incredible, available even at this hour.

As her dizziness lessened she sensed this episode was worse than usual, probably because she had been asleep, giving the problem a chance to progress much further than it would have had she been awake and able to recognize the earliest symptoms. She always kept some fruit juice on hand for just this kind of an emergency, but she had to get it. She tried again to get up, but she couldn'

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Penguin US
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2014
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0399166300
• ISBN 13: 9780399166303
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 416
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar