Microbial Mysteries: A Rocky Road

The last of the Trilogy by Lee Walters MD  

               This is the third and final book in a trilogy concerning the lives of Lee and Cara Walters. The first book, “Rescues from the Sky”, concerned their meeting, and training. It related their long-distance love affair with Lee on the west coast acting as a flight surgeon in the US Coast Guard at USCG Air Station San Francisco. Cara was a nurse in training at the University of Virginia where they literally ran into each other. The result was instant attraction, instant romance and a passion that was hotter than Mount Saint Helens in August.
  “Rescues from the Sky” details Dr. Walter’s duty in the US Coast Guard as an emergency rescue flight surgeon stationed at San Francisco Airport. The rescues were often extremely dangerous due to the severity of the trauma, and the horrible weather threatening the success of the rescues. His fear of heights made rescues psychologically difficult when being hoisted down to ships, ledges, mountain tops, and an unlikely encounter with a Russian submarine with a rescue of a bleeding Russian submariner. The harrowing experiences launched his self-confidence and his knowledge of emergency medicine like a Saturn rocket. The story also includes the difficulty of Cara and Lee becoming a couple due to the distance between them and their call schedules. The book ends with Lee and Cara planning to finish their education at the University of Wisconsin Medical Center and planning their future together.
  The second book concerns the education and maturation of an infectious disease detective, Lee Walters MD, and describes his educational endeavors in internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin and infectious diseases at the University of Vermont with his soulmate, Cara. Cara was finishing her second year in nursing and was at the top of her class. The book is titled “Contagion Chaser” and is written in the same no-nonsense style of the first book with short chapters that easily flow together and grab the reader’s attention. It is about an infectious disease consultant who is like a police detective putting evidence together to catch a killer- a microbial killer that must be diagnosed quickly to save a life. The reader will enjoy the logic, the application of knowledge and use of medical science to solve the mystery diseases.
  The book continues to tell the twists and turns that life throws at Lee and Cara following their marriage in Phoenix, Arizona where he has chosen to practice infectious disease and internal medicine. Cara had a wonderful position in ICU nursing that morphed into a position with the charitable foundation for the hospital. Her ability to ask for funds for the hospitals in the corporation was phenomenal. She was a well-respected force in the hospital system.
  Out of the blue, the AIDS pandemic places psychological pressure on Dr. Walters as he watches patient after patient die in the early 1980’s and he has no treatment regimen to stop the inexorable march to death from this insatiable virus. Cara steps in to help him step away from his depressing response to his dying patients and take a more objective psychological stance so he can perform his medical job well without the guilt of losing his patients. The treatment turnaround in 1989 is a psychological booster to Lee as he started turning the table on the AIDS virus.
  Their life is changed by the loss of his extraordinary partner in infectious disease practice and the change in medical philosophy of his younger associates. They wish to abandon office practice including not taking on AIDS patients and practicing only in the hospital. This was a radical change from Dr. Walter’s medical philosophy to treat patients in both clinical settings.  
  This is superimposed on an emotional void in their lives due to the inability of not having children together. A miracle happened in their lives when the opportunity to adopt triplet girls was made possible by a physician who had been a friend for years. This was an unexpected dream come true and their entire lives were changed with this gift from above. They were blessed and knew their hard-working lifestyle had to change to give these three beautiful infants the time needed to raise them together.
  The change in practice philosophy by his young associates and the change in lifestyle led him to seek a more corporate medical position in Phoenix and he came up totally empty. The positions were just not right, and he was disappointed when a decision to leave Arizona was necessary to find a slower paced lifestyle. He found a position as Director of Infectious Disease at the Loeb Medical Center in Pensylvania and he accepted it. It was not an easy decision based on his more than 20 years of practicing in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the friends that they had made.
  The third book in the trilogy, “: Microbial Mysteries: A Rocky Road,” starts with their departure from Phoenix by car and their long drive with triplets across the country. After the trip, neither Cara nor Lee would recommend it for any sane individual, because the triplets did everything at the same time-from crying to peeing, to wanting food- all together now 1,2,3!
 The third book will be in the same style as the first two books and will center on their mid-life crisis change as well as his continued goal of chasing down killer diseases before they can take a life or spread to another innocent victim. A new location brings new diseases to track down and treat effectively.
   Their change from the Arizona desert to the Pennsylvania winters was not easy and they will be faced with questioning their decision to leave their comfort zone. More changes are afoot, and they will face them together using love as the fuel for their psychological strength. Yet another change in practice location will lead to major problems for both Lee’s professional status from an associate who is out to get him and spoil their economic  comfort zone. This from an associate with an anger management problem and an untreated bipolar condition. This will test the mental strength of both Cara and Lee. The surprise solution will point out one of his father’s tenets of life- never burn a bridge. The book is now in the final stages and an author’s copy is in the works for fianl approval.
  The female threesome will also give them a different kind of love and energy than they experienced in the past. I hope you enjoy Lee and Cara + 3’s adventure in life, together. You will become entangled in their life trials which they face together, and the mystery diseases he chases like a police detective hunting a criminal. Enjoy the read! Warning:  Don’t start the book too late at night as the author will not be responsible for your loss of a night’s sleep. 

Thanks for your support, Lee Walters MD