I’ve been a volunteer at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas for 20 years, working in the PACU, the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. To the layman, that’s the Day Surgery Recovery Room.
I attended several lecture given by a heart surgeon at Children’s named Kristine Guleserian, and each
I would see her around the hospital, and we’d chat about baseball as we were both big fans. And then I began to hear more and more stories from other people about things that Dr. G, as she’s known, had done for her patients after their surgeries. So, I decided to take a flyer.
I walked into her office one day and said, “How’d you like to do a book with me?”
“What about?” she asked.
“About you.”
“Nobody wants to read about me.”
“Everybody wants to read about you. They just don’t know it yet.”
Dr. G thought for about ten seconds and then said simply, “Why not.” Seven years later, we had a book.
In that intervening time, I spent many hours as her shadow. In the OR, in patient consultations, on rounds and more. I saw what I later would describe as an ordinary woman with an extraordinary skill set. She’s only five feet tall, but as they say in sports, she plays six foot two. She stands on a small stool when she’s operating, and I’ve seen her stand on that stool for 16 hours straight, with no breaks for water, food, the bathroom… nothing.
Once, after a ten-hour double lung transplant, somebody in the OR noticed she was wearing four-inch Prada heels. They asked her how she could stand that long in those shoes.
“Simple,” she replied. “If you can’t operate in heels, you can’t operate.”
How could you not want to write about someone like that?
About the Author
After growing up in suburban New York, Oristano moved to Texas in 1970 to attend Texas Christian University. A major in Mass Communications, Mark was hired by WFAA-TV in 1973 as a sports reporter, the start of a 30-year career covering the NFL and professional sports.
Mark has worked with notable broadcasters including Verne Lundquist, Oprah Winfrey and as a sportscaster for the Dallas Cowboys Radio Network and Houston Oilers Radio Network. He has covered Super Bowls and other major sports events throughout his career. He was part of Ron Chapman’s legendary morning show on KVIL-FM in Dallas for nearly 20 years.
In 2002 Oristano left broadcasting to pursue his creative interests, starting a portrait photography business and becoming involved in theater including summer productions with Shakespeare Dallas. He follows his daughter Stacey’s film career who has appeared in such shows as Friday Night Lights and Bunheads.
A veteran stage actor in Dallas, Mark Oristano was writer and performer for the acclaimed one-man show “And Crown Thy Good: A True Story of 9/11.”
Oristano authored his first book, A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football: Decoding America’s Favorite Game. A Sportcaster’s Guide offers inside tips about how to watch football, including stories from Oristano’s 30-year NFL career, a look at offense, defense and special teams, and cool things to say during the game to sound like a real fan.
In 2016 Oristano finished his second book, Surgeon’s Story, a true story about a surgeon that takes readers inside the operating room during open heart surgery. His second book is described as a story of dedication, talent, training, caring, resilience, guts and love.
In 1997, Mark began volunteering at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, working in the day surgery recovery room. It was at Children’s that Mark got to know Kristine Guleserian, MD, first to discuss baseball, and later, to learn about the physiology, biology, and mystery of the human heart. That friendship led to a joint book project, Surgeon’s Story, about Kristine’s life and career.
Mark is married and has two adult children and two grandchildren.
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