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As the son of an Air Force Sergeant, Steve was fortunate to spend four years at the Air Force base in Torrejon, just outside Madrid, not long before the generalissimo's demise. The one constant source of interest for Steve, in all the fascinating places he traveled in his family's Peugeot, was the tiny reptiles that skittered about in the warm sunshine, daring him to catch them.
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Royal Oaks, a housing complex near the capital city, bustled with the ceaseless arrivals and departures of Air Force families who formed a tight-knit, supportive community in the midst of the Spanish population that often derided GIs, and which had little affection for the U.S. government. The patches of wilderness interspersed between their homes supported a vibrant reptile community, so Steve and his friends formed a lizard-catching league, descending into the sandy gullies almost daily to pursue the elusive six-lined racerunner.​
In this unusual setting, Steve underwent a transition from a meek young boy, riddled with self-doubt, to a pre-teen with an audacious dream – to become a physician. The journey began with an incomparable fifth-grade teacher, the unstinting support of a demanding father, the camaraderie of two loyal friends, and the inspiration of the elusive lizards they avidly pursued. The story chronicles the challenges, successes, failures, and accomplishments Steve experienced as he evolved from pupil to scholar in the final year of elementary school, acquiring a small measure of self-confidence and establishing the foundation for his eventual entry into the medical profession.
A Memoir
The Six-lined
racerunner
My Story
Steven L. Orebaugh is an anesthesiologist at an academic medical center whose position requires that he handle or prescribe opioid medications every working day. He has witnessed a number of ruined careers related to addiction among his peers, and has worked with trainees whose lives have been irrevocably altered by indulgence in the controlled substances that anesthesiologists administer to their patients. The Stairs On Billy Buck Hill illustrates the strong allure of these drugs, and how, once ingested, they create within the user a voracious appetite for greater indulgence, followed inevitably by ruinous consequences.
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Most of his publications are related to his profession, with some 75 works in the medical literature, including peer-reviewed articles, textbook chapters, and review articles. In addition, he is the author of two medical textbooks, and has served as an editor or section editor for several more. In 2006, the Johns Hopkins University Press published his non-fiction book Understanding Anesthesia. This patient education manual, which explains the subtleties of operative anesthesia and pain management, empowers patients to ask appropriate questions about their perioperative care. Five years ago, his first fiction work, A Night in the Life, which describes the plight of a disenchanted emergency physician in a decaying urban hospital, was published by Pocol Press.
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Dr. Orebaugh practices anesthesiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and has a special interest in regional anesthesia, an important means of reducing opioid use for pain control. He is especially enthused to teach these methods to doctors in training.
IN THE PRESS
FRED SHAW,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette