A Heart Surgeon's Little Instruction Book


Book Description

Sometimes the environment surrounding an operating room is way too serious! Let loose with this handy paperback, which is destined to be the topic of conversation in ORs everywhere. Wit, wisdom, and sage advice are furnished to the surgical team via 452 one-liners. These tidbits of information will cause the whole surgical team to reflect, chuckle, and even re-evaluate their bedside manner. These thought-provoking, yet witty quotes promise to keep the surgical team in stitches. Here’s a sampling of this book’s humor and advice: Never be embarrassed to look something up. Avoid scheduling an operation for the morning if you are leaving town in the afternoon. Don’t throw instruments. If you must throw something, make it something disposable. Don’t panic—even when it’s obviously the most rational thing to do. If possible, leave the saphenous vein undivided in the leg until after heparin has been administered. In the event of a complication, the resident closest to the bed is assigned the blame.




Open Heart


Book Description

In gripping prose, one of the world's leading cardiac surgeons lays bare both the wonder and the horror of a life spent a heartbeat away from death When Stephen Westaby witnessed a patient die on the table during open-heart surgery for the first time, he was struck by the quiet, determined way the surgeons walked away. As he soon understood, this detachment is a crucial survival strategy in a profession where death is only a heartbeat away. In Open Heart, Westaby reflects on over 11,000 surgeries, showing us why the procedures have never become routine and will never be. With astonishing compassion, he recounts harrowing and sometimes hopeful stories from his operating room: we meet a pulseless man who lives with an electric heart pump, an expecting mother who refuses surgery unless the doctors let her pregnancy reach full term, and a baby who gets a heart transplant-only to die once it's in place. For readers of Atul Gawande's Being Mortal and of Henry Marsh's Do No Harm, Open Heart offers a soul-baring account of a life spent in constant confrontation with death.




Your Heart, My Hands


Book Description

An encouraging, inspiring, and "absorbing" (Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winner) true story of how a boy from India overcame a difficult childhood and devastating hand injuries and became one of the most prolific cardiac surgeons in U.S. history. An encouraging and inspiring true story on how a boy from India overcame a difficult childhood and devastating hand injuries and became one of the most prolific cardiac surgeons in U.S. history. Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a twenty-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. The journey still awaiting Dr. Arun K. Singh would be unparalleled. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life. Shared for the first time, these intimate and uplifting accounts, along with photos, will have you cheering for the underdog and appreciating the enduring determination of the human spirit.




Close to the Sun


Book Description

“A surgeon internationally recognized for his expertise in heart and lung transplants . . . writes with assurance and aplomb about his achievements.” —Kirkus Reviews Stuart Jamieson has lived two lives. One began in heat and dust. Born to British ex-pats in colonial Africa, Jamieson was sent at the age of eight to a local boarding school, where heartless instructors bullied and tormented their students. In the summers he escaped to fish on crocodile-infested rivers and explore the African bush. As a teenager, an apprenticeship with one of Africa’s most fabled trackers taught Jamieson how to deal with dangerous game and even more dangerous poachers, lessons that would later serve him well in the high-stakes career he chose. Jamieson’s second life unfolded when he went to London to study medicine during the turbulent 1960s, leaving behind the only home he knew as it descended into revolution. Brilliant and self-assured, Jamieson advanced quickly in the still-new field of open-heart surgery. It was a fraught time. For patients with terminal heart disease, heart transplants were the new hope. But poor outcomes had all but ended the procedure. In 1978 Jamieson came to America and to Stanford—the only cardiac center in the world doing heart transplants successfully. Here, Jamieson’s pioneering work on the anti-rejection drug cyclosporin would help to make heart transplantation a routine life-saving operation, that is still in practice today as he continues to train the next generation of heart surgeons. Stuart Jamieson’s story is the story of four decades of advances in heart surgery. “Every reader interested in the history behind one of medicine’s riskiest procedures will find it fascinating.” —Booklist




Jesus' Little Instruction Book


Book Description

The award-winning author of How the Irish Saved Civilization gathers together the most inspiring messages of Jesus, in a unique and relevant guide to daily living. Original.




Handbook of Patient Care in Cardiac Surgery


Book Description

The thoroughly updated Seventh Edition of this popular and widely used handbook presents the most current protocols and recommendations for care of patients undergoing cardiac surgery. This edition reflects current ACLS guidelines and the latest developments in cardiac surgery. The transplantation chapter has been entirely rewritten by a new author. Experts from leading hospitals offer detailed, practical guidelines on preoperative evaluation and preparation, intraoperative management, and postoperative care for all current cardiac surgical procedures. Perspectives valuable for cardiac surgeons, cardiac nurses, and anesthesiologists are included throughout. Coverage includes a chapter on infants and children. Appendices list drug dosages for adults and for infants and children.




Life's Little Instruction Book for Incurable Romantics


Book Description

We all need a little romance in our lives. Romance doesn't usually just happen, and so we all need a gentle reminder of how to rekindle the spark of romance. Call each other in the middle of the day just to say, "Hello, I love you." Remember that if it matters to your mate, it should matter to you. Count your blessings and start with each other. Have a beautiful flower arrangement awaiting your loved one after a long separation. In addition, this charming book tells stories of the most romantic things ever done, secrets of building a long and happy marriage, and romantic thoughts from the world's greatest literature. The goal of this book is to make the world just a bit more romantic, one couple at a time.




The Patient's Guide to Heart Valve Surgery


Book Description

Each year, over 250,000 heart valve repair and heart valve replacement operations are performed for conditions including stenosis, prolapse, insufficiency, aneurysm, Tetralogy of Fallot and regurgitation. However, most patients and caregivers surveyed felt their expectations were mismanaged - both before and after surgery. The Patient's Guide to Heart Valve Surgery was written by Adam Pick, a double heart valve surgery patient, to address this troubling issue and prepare the patient and caregiver for the challenges and opportunities of valve surgery - from diagnosis through recovery.




King of Hearts


Book Description

Few of the great stories of medicine are as palpably dramatic as the invention of open-heart surgery, yet, until now, no journalist has ever brought all of the thrilling specifics of this triumph to life. This is the story of the surgeon many call the father of open-heart surgery, Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, who, along with colleagues at University Hospital in Minneapolis and a small band of pioneers elsewhere, accomplished what many experts considered to be an impossible feat: He opened the heart, repaired fatal defects, and made the miraculous routine. Acclaimed author G. Wayne Miller draws on archival research and exclusive interviews with Lillehei and legendary pioneers such as Michael DeBakey and Christiaan Barnard, taking readers into the lives of these doctors and their patients as they progress toward their landmark achievement. In the tradition of works by Richard Rhodes and Tracy Kidder, King of Hearts tells the story of an important and gripping piece of forgotten science history.




A Surgeon's Little Instruction Book


Book Description

We've all had "one of those days." Yet, even under the most stressful conditions, humor seems to find its way through-at times it's even sharper than your surgical instruments! Dr. Waters was asked by hundreds of readers of his first book, A Heart Surgeon's Little Instruction Book to create a similar work for all surgical specialties. He responded to the request by assembling a stunning collection of the best one-liners from hundreds of colleagues around the world. Here's a sampling of this book's humor and advice: Recognize when a referral is just someone wanting his or her problem to become your problem. Never let a published article stand in the way of common sense. Your percentages of body fat and moral fiber should never approximate each other. Be wary of colleagues who are more conversant with their billings than they are with their clinical results. Start each case with a clear conscience and an empty bladder.