Crossings
Page 37
The staff of therapists and physicians at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, deserve applause. Since they all worked as a team, I shall thank them as a team. They included: occupational therapy, physical therapy, recreational therapy, speech and language therapy, physical medicine and rehabilitation, social work, psychology, and neuropsychology and brain injury specialists. Beyond the hours of therapy, they gave me hours of uplifting hope, without which I would not have made the gains I did.
To all providers and assistants and nurses who helped a soldier-doctor in a time of need, thank you.
The faculty, staff, and students at the Ashland University MFA program deserve a special note of thanks. In many ways, this book is the product of their excellent teaching and guidance and patients (oops, patience) with me as a student. Sonya Huber, Robert Root, Steven Harvey, Thomas Larson, Sarah Wells, and Joe Mackall all took precious hours correcting teaching me, as did many others. And thanks to the editors of River Teeth, Ashland’s literary journal, for publishing my first essay: “Triage.” That gave me the encouragement to keep writing. Thanks also go to author Hope Edelman for the insights she gave me during our creative coaching sessions.
My agent, Richard Florest from Rob Weisbach Creative Management, gets the credit for believing in my writing and giving me a chance with this book. He saw something there when it was still in the formative stages. Kevin Doughten, my editor at Crown, should win a prize for editorial patience. When we first started working together, I had difficulty understanding the concept of a narrative arc. Kevin, I think I finally get it. Thanks to him for his long suffering and for his continued direction and counsel on this book.
Finally, I owe a huge Iowa “thank you” to my wife and children, who were always there for me during times of war and times at home. Their long days, expressions of love, and many prayers were, and are, the mainstay of my life and recovery. I love you all. God bless.
JON R. KERSTETTER is a physician and retired U.S. Army Flight Surgeon. He is a graduate of the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, Minnesota (class of 1988). After joining the Iowa Army National Guard in 1994, he served as a medical officer until his retirement in 2009.
Dr. Kerstetter holds an MS in business from the University of Utah and an MFA in creative nonfiction from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.
He was the in-country director of the Johns Hopkins teaching program in emergency medicine in Kosovo and provided humanitarian medical care in the conflicts in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo and in the hurricane disaster in Honduras.
Kerstetter completed three tours of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army as a combat physician and flight surgeon. He resides in Iowa City with his wife. He has four children.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
* * *
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.