shock

Let's sustain our plumbing analogy because the architecture of shock makes so much sense when viewed that way.

If the cardiovascular system is a city's plumbing network, the heart is the main centralized water pump, the blood volume is the actual water in the system, and the blood vessels, the arteries, and veins are the miles of pipes.

Shock, therefore, is a catastrophic drop in overall water pressure across the entire city.

No pressure means no water reaches the houses.

Or in this physiological reality, no oxygen reaches the brain, the kidneys, or the liver.

Easy, Steve, you've had a rough time.

Shock.

The door opened and a nurse came in with a hypo all loaded, its needle buried in a fluff of cotton.

Thorndyke eyed it professionally and took it.

In other words, I'm nuts.

No, shock.

Shock.

He nodded very slowly.

In both cases, medicine must intervene quickly to calm the immune system and restore control.

Shock is a reminder that the immune system protects life through force, and that force must always be balanced by regulation to avoid turning defense into danger.

Food can trigger both healing and harmful responses.

Every mouthful of food does far more than deliver calories.