Well, we did it. 

While we may not have reached our goal, the average contribution to this project was much higher than we anticipated, allowing us to lower our  shipping costs, and take advantage of unexpected quanitity discounts from our printer. Which really is just another way of saying we raised enough money to print the book!

Thanks to all of you who have encouraged us with your kind words, and your hard-earned dollars, especially during these tough economic times.

We will be sending the manuscript away in a few days, and hope to have our books here before the end of August. After that, we'll throw a big party at the DS Art Studio, and you're all invited.

So stay tuned here, and follow along with us on the book's web site: www.PastMedicalHistoryBook.com , our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PastMedicalHistory, and the author's art site:  www.DSArt.com/gallery/item/Past-Medical-History 

The Book

        Past Medical History is a compilation of short stories chronicling the early life of Dr. Don Stewart, who grew up with the singular goal of becoming a physician, then resigned the day he earned his medical license, to make a life and a living as an artist. It’s The Devil Wears Prada meets The House of God, with a character who sees his own career circling the drain, pronounces it DOA, and turfs himself to an art studio for treatment. It’s Patch Adams, with an attitude; The Things They Carried, dressed up in a white lab coat.

         This series of stories draws a clear picture of a doctor whose passion and creativity allowed him to recognize the pitfalls of his chosen profession, then compelled him to escape from the hospital, and take his life in a more creative, and far healthier direction.

The Author

          Don Stewart has a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Art from Birmingham-Southern College, and an MD from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. He also served a year-long surgical internship at the Mayo Clinic, where he published some of his first composite drawings, and won awards for poetry and short fiction.             (I know – he should have been studying surgery.)

         Dr. Stewart’s short stories have since been published in the Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Pulse--voices from the heart of medicine, The Birmingham Arts Journal, The Placebo Journal, and The Journal of Irreproducible Results, where he is listed as honorary Art Editor. For four years he served as Contributing Editor to Informal Rounds, the newsletter of the University of Alabama Medical Alumni Association. He was also Senior Editor and chief clue writer for the award-winning board game Cleaver Endeavor.

         Aside from an earlier collection of humorous drawings released through the DS Art studio, this is his first book.

The Art

          Let’s be clear, this book is not about Don’s art. That is, it’s not a picture book. These stories tell about an artist, and his unusual path to a life of humor and creativity. 

         Don’s drawings are unusual, too. He works with a regular ballpoint pen, piling up groups of smaller pictures to create a larger composite design. (Curious? Visit www.DSArt.com.)

         Oh - and he always adds a twist of verbal humor, too, a touch that has caught the attention of a few notable wordsmiths: 

“The difference between your drawings and regular illustrations, I think, is like the difference between poetry and prose.”      - Will Shortz

                                                                          NPR PuzzleMaster

 “I salute you for finding your own way. Your work is truly making a difference at several levels.”     

- Larry Smith,  Adjunct Associate Professor of Economics,     University of Waterloo; TED lecturer.                                                              

“Don Stewart is a Warrior of Art!”    - Steven Pressfield

                                                  Author, The Warrior Ethos

So glad you followed your dream and are sharing it with other dreamers!          - Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) 

Your Role

          Years ago, we asked our art customers to help fund the publication of a coffee table book, a collection of drawings from Don’s first twenty years in the studio. The experiment was a complete success – the book did so well that The Visual Humor of Don Stewart has since been re-released in a paperback edition. 

         Right now we need the same kind of support to produce Past Medical History. Without your help, these stories have little chance of being published at all.

          Your donation to our campaign will pay for printing and binding the book, plus shipping and handling costs to send books and other perks to you and the rest of our generous supporters.

What You Get

          How much fun is this: Anyone who donates $10 or more to this campaign gets their name printed in the book! (No profanity, please - no matter what your kid brother calls you. Even if you answer to it. Thanks!) 

         $25 gets you a book (with your name in it), and $50 gets you one signed by the author. Then there are fine art prints, original art, and other goodies listed in the “Perks” section. Take a look!

       Most of all, everyone who particpates gets to be part of an unusual story that has unfolded over a lifetime, one that speaks to the creative spirit in each of us.

Excerpt

Here’s a little sample of what we’re trying to get printed:

The man had nine tubes running into and out of his body the day he died.

      Two IVs directed fluids and medications, drugs flowing into one arm to keep his blood pressure up, in the other to coax it back down, with antibiotics, anti-emetics, acid blockers, blood products and pain killers piggy-backed onto Y-shaped access ports, or pumped in measured doses through bliue computerized boxes clamped to metal IV poles.

      A third line penetrated deep into the man's chest, entering above his collar bone, coursing through the great thoracic vessels and the right-side chambers of his heart, its round balloon tip resting snugly in the terminal arteries of his lungs. Above, a thin yellow feeding tube emerged spaghetti-like from his nose, while down below a thick red rubber catheter drained the man's bladder into a bag hooked to the side of his bed. Another did what it could to channel the volumes of liquid feces that had plagued this patient for too many days, and took up far too much of the intensive care nurses' valuable time in sanitary maintenance, skin care and linen changes.

      Clear plastic tubes the size of small garden hoses exited either side of the patient's chest, each connected to a low-suction vacuum canister that functioned to keep his fragile lungs inflated - lungs that already popped like loose bubble-wrap from the air forced into them through a similar tube that traversed the length of his throat.

      This was the tube he had hoped to avoid. The one that just one week earlier he had made me promise - promise - not to let anyone put into him...

(Want to read more? Help us out!)

Ways to Help

We want to see how this story turns out, don't you?

Here are some ways you can help:

1. Sign up!

2. Spread the word! Share our campaign with friends, family, and co-workers.

3. “Like” us, and leave your suggestions and comments on our Past Medical History Facebook page:

 https://www.facebook.com/PastMedicalHistory

4. Check back with us now and then, to see how the campaign is going!