How Your Child Heals: An Inside Look at Common Childhood Ailments - Softcover

You will be amazed by the intense drama of microscopic events taking place within the cells and other organs during the process of healing from childhood illnesses and injuries. Few authors have more experience than Dr. Johnson as a physician in both pediatric clinics and intensive care units as well as a laboratory investigator of immune system pathophysiology. -- K.H. Rhodes, M.D., Mayo Clinic Recognizing the abundance of books offering guidance to parents dealing with the various ailments and injuries that children encounter, Johnson (pediatrics, Mayo Clinic) has taken a different approach. His goal is to explain in understandable language what happens in the normally functioning body, then contrast that, often at the molecular level, with what transpires when things go wrong. While what to do is inevitably touched on, what is occurring and why take precedence. Topics include inflammation, the immune system, fractures, appendicitis, asthma and other allergic reactions, cancer, and signs and symptoms. He also discusses how to help a child heal and what can take place when healing doesn't occur. While not the first book a worried parent would turn to, many will find it helpful in gaining a clearer understanding of what's happening. Because communication in the examining room is often poor, this book, clearly written without condescension, might serve interested parents very well. * Library Journal * Dr. Johnson's factual, interesting, and innovative journey into How Your Child Heals is a fabulous resource for parents wanting to learn more about medical issues facing children, and how to maximize that precious face-to-face time with the doctor. How Your Child Heals is also a tremendous resource for medical professionals working with children, providing excellent explanations for medically "complicated" concepts. As a pediatrician and a mother of four, I highly recommend this fabulous book-should be on every parent's bookshelf! -- Jennifer Canter MD, MPH, FAAP Board Certified Child Abuse and General Pediatrician & Educational Toy Inventor/Owner of www.playthisway.com Johnson (How to Talk to Your Child's Doctor), a former Director of Pediatric Critical Care Service at the Mayo Clinic and Professor of Pediatrics at Mayo Medical School, tackles a range of childhood injuries, illnesses, and common diseases in a fun and educational way. With chapters covering health issues both basic (ear infections; allergies) and severe (cancer), parents will find a wealth of useful information laid out in a clear, easy-to-follow format. Intent on sharing how 'fascinating, complex events appear to me,' Johnson begins with a very tight focus; in 'Inflammation: A Visit to a Sore Finger' he asks parents to imagine a scenario wherein their 12-year-old comes to them midway through building a backyard fort complaining of a throbbing finger. The typical symptoms of inflammation are there-redness, swelling, heat, and pain. Using this simple scene, Johnson examines the understanding and ignorance of inflammation in Roman times and then delves into a wonderfully comprehensive and wildly entertaining eight-page examination of the process at a cellular level. His Fantastic Voyage approach makes incredibly elaborate processes read like the adventures he believes them to be. * Publishers Weekly, Starred Review *

All children get sick now and then, and most of the time they soon get well. How do they do that? How does it happen? When a mother brings her sick child to the doctor for something trivial, like a runny nose, or for something more serious, like difficulty breathing, she usually hears from the doctor that this or that treatment will make the child better, or that no treatment is needed at all. Some parents are content with little information; others want to know how a child heals and why things work the way they do. Here, Johnson takes readers on a tour of the inner workings of a child's body as it heals from injury, illness, and common diseases. Readers will be fascinated by just how healing works and what they can do to assist in the process.