It was my good fortune to spend a few days last week with my youngest son and some of his best friends and their dads. We loaded up and headed to the Buffalo River wilderness in Arkansas where there is an unspoiled wilderness and some of the best canoeing around. We camped on the riverbanks every night, and I got way up close and personal with nature. It was a great trip of fellowship and a milestone for my favorite nine-year old. I could not help but notice all the wondrous design elements all around me. One thing prevalent around the river is spiders. My friend, James, who has contributed to this site, assures me that we are never more than five feet from a spider, and there is no doubt that was the case on this trip!

Some of the most dreaded diseases and problems in neurosurgery occur at the base of the skull. This area, which acts as the floor of the brain and the ceiling of the face, is a complicated, tricky area which challenges the best of surgeons. Tumors arising here can impair cranial nerve function, destroying vision and hearing. What makes them so difficult to treat is the very nature of their location. Fortunately, the field of skull base surgery has seen significant advances over my career, and the advent of focused irradiation such as the cyber knife offers new hope to patients.

There is a lot of talk about “wellness” in today’s medicine. The idea is that we spend too much of our resources (read: money) on treating sick people and not enough to prevent disease in the first place. Even though I have spent my professional life treating people who need neurosurgery, I have to agree with the argument that often, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This old saying is particularly relevant today as we struggle to push back the signs of aging. I love my older patients who are full of life. I always try and understand how they do it. Everybody has a different story, but a few constant threads are in every long and vibrant life. These patients all have a reason outside of their own happiness. In other words; they know their purpose. That is much of the reason for this site.