First, the sound. Every breath a high musical squeak as the baby lies on the exam table in my Hawthorne clinic. The parents lean in, one still in work clothes from a White Plains commute, and ask if this is just “anoise.” I’ve heard that question hundreds of times. I’ve also seen the same sound turn into actual work of breathing that needed immediate attention in the operating room at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital. Those are the stories I tell in Breathless: Surgical Tales from the Brink (and Back), available on Amazon.