Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Author’s Note

Part One: Acute Uncertainty

A Two-Headed Beast

Children’s Hospital

The Gatekeeper

ER One

An Entrance and an Exit

Malaysia

NICCU

Imaging

The Tincture of Time

News

Testimony

Starting Points

Social Workers

The Emotional Differential

Appendicitis

Horses and Zebras

Video

At Least It’s Not White

Degrees

The Tell-Tale Heart

“Forensics”

Out, Damned Spot!

Get Out!

The Intangibles

The Rabbi

Mashed

An Abbreviated History of Fever

The Bake Sale

Part Two: Sub-Acute Uncertainty

Earthquakes

Time Will Tell

Waiting for Godot

Sunsets

Days at the Salon

Anesthesia

Waiting Rooms

Statistics

Fast and Slow

Faith

Waiting

Control

Guilt v. Blame

Graduation

Part Three: Chronic Uncertainty

Intervening Early

Anniversaries

Blood

San Francisco

Survivors

Resolution

Shrinking Uncertainty

Neuroplasticity

Improvising

Statistical Downfall

Endlessness

The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

Follow-ups

Documentation

One Plus One

The Future

Acknowledgments

Further Reading