Heart to Beat


Book Description

Success is not reserved for the smartest or most talented--it's earned by those who want it the most. Heart conquers all and the triumphant always go all in, never settling for anything less than their best effort. As a leading heart transplant surgeon, Dr. Brian Lima's life story is a testament to that mantra. He's living proof that slow and steady still wins the race, and that the American Dream is alive and well. He persevered through countless challenges growing up in a Cuban immigrant family and defied the odds every step of the way. To fulfill his impossible dream, Dr. Lima opted for the road less traveled, enduring nearly twenty years of rigorous education and surgical training at some of the most prestigious institutions in the world. In Heart to Beat, Dr. Lima shares the lessons learned throughout his improbable rise to the pinnacle of success in the medical field. He breaks down the keys to advancing well beyond your comfort zone and perceived limitations, regardless of your field of interest. No dream is too far-fetched and his Heart Way approach to life will help unleash your full potential and surpass your wildest expectations!




The Beat of Life


Book Description

The heart is our most important organ and perhaps our most mysterious. Every day it pumps 9000 litres of blood and beats around 100,000 times. But the heart is more than just a pump. In all major human cultures, it is seen as the source of love, sympathy, joy, courage, strength and wisdom. Why is this so? Having witnessed the extraordinary complexity and unpredictability of human hearts in the operating theatre – each one individual in its make-up, like a fingerprint – heart surgeon Reinhard Friedl went on a search for answers. He examined closely the latest findings in neurocardiology and psychocardiology, and in The Beat of Life he shares his discoveries. In the tradition of Giulia Enders’ Gut and Norman Doidge’s The Brain That Changes Itself, he uses riveting personal stories to illustrate the complex relationship between the heart, the brain and the psyche. The Beat of Life ends with a plea: that we recognise the heart’s wisdom and adopt a more heart-centred way of living, which will lead to greater health.




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.




We Plan, God Laughs


Book Description

The old Yiddish proverb, “We plan, God laughs,” expresses a truth everyone can relate to. At every stage of life we make plans, setting out where we want to go and imagining what we will be like when we have “arrived.” But things have a way of turning out not quite as we hoped or expected. In WE PLAN, GOD LAUGHS, Sherre Hirsch argues that too often our plans are limited to ones we think up at bedtime, or are devised by our parents, or by what looks good on a résumé. Addressing serious spiritual issues, Hirsch takes readers through ten basics steps for formulating a plan that reflects who we are now and who we want to be—a plan that is alive, organic, and in sync with God. Hirsch teaches the importance of letting go and recognizing that even the most ordinary life is extraordinary in the eyes of God. She makes no foolish promise that life will turn out as we plan, but shows that with hope, faith, and belief, we can change our lives for the better and make a positive difference in the lives of others.




Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease


Book Description

The New York Times bestselling guide to the lifesaving diet that can both prevent and help reverse the effects of heart disease Based on the groundbreaking results of his twenty-year nutritional study, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn illustrates that a plant-based, oil-free diet can not only prevent the progression of heart disease but can also reverse its effects. Dr. Esselstyn is an internationally known surgeon, researcher and former clinician at the Cleveland Clinic and a featured expert in the acclaimed documentary Forks Over Knives. Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease has helped thousands across the country, and is the book behind Bill Clinton’s life-changing vegan diet. The proof lies in the incredible outcomes for patients who have followed Dr. Esselstyn's program, including a number of patients in his original study who had been told by their cardiologists that they had less than a year to live. Within months of starting the program, all Dr. Esselstyn’s patients began to improve dramatically, and twenty years later, they remain free of symptoms. Complete with more than 150 delicious recipes perfect for a plant-based diet, the national bestseller Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease explains the science behind the simple plan that has drastically changed the lives of heart disease patients forever. It will empower readers and give them the tools to take control of their heart health.




The Surgeons: Life and Death in a Top Heart Center


Book Description

Morris presents an over-the-shoulder look at a major heart surgery center, along with gripping accounts of how doctors think and judge each other, what they believe is really driving up health care costs, and the future of health care policy in America.




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.




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.




The Knife's Edge


Book Description

An intimate and compelling exploration into the unique psyche of the heart surgeon, by one of the profession's most eminent figures. Although Professor Stephen Westaby was born with the necessary coordination and manual dexterity, it was a head trauma sustained during university that gifted him the qualities of an exceptional heart surgeon: qualities that are frequently associated with psychopathy. His thirty-five-year career has been characterised by fearlessness and ruthless ambition; leaving empathy at the hospital door as thousands of patients put their lives in his hands. For heart surgeons, the inevitable cost of failure is death and in The Knife's Edge, Westaby reflects on the unique mindset of those who are drawn to this exhilarating and often tragic profession. We discover the pioneers who grasped opportunities and took chances to drive innovation and save lives. Often difficult, uninhibited and fearless, theirs is a field constantly threatened by the risk of public failure. Like those before him, Westaby refuses to draw the line in his search of a lifetime solution to problems of the heart. His determination is unerring - a steadfastness underpinned by his unusual mind. But as we glimpse into the future of cardiac surgery, for all its remarkable scientific advancement, one question remains: within the confines of socialised medical healthcare systems, how can heart surgeons - individuals often hardwired with avoidance of self-doubt, a penchant for glory and a flagrant disregard for authority - truly flourish?




A Surgeons’ Guide to Cardiac Diagnosis


Book Description

Anläßlich eines Besuches bei Sir RussELL BROCK in London im Herbst 1956 und während eines Aufenthaltes seines Schülers Donald Ross im Frühjahr 1958 in Marburg a. d. Lahn lernte ich eine Untersuchungsmethode des Herzens und des Kreislaufes kennen, die mich durch ihre Einfachheit und Folgerichtigkeit und durch die hieraus sich ergebenden Schlüsse und Entscheidungen sehr beeindruckte und überzeugte. In dieser Auffassung wurde ich durch die Zustimmung bestärkt, die das Untersuchungsvorgehen von DONALD Ross bei den in der Kardiologie erfahrenen Internisten unseres Marburger Arbeitskreises, den Herren H.E. BOCK, G. SCHETTLER, P. SCHÖLMERICH und E. STEIN, fand. Das Prinzip der von Sir RussELL BROCK und seinen Schülern geübten Unter. suchungstechnik besteht - kurz gesagt - darin, die mit den menschlichen Sinnen erfaßten und durch überlegungen gedeuteten Symptome als wichtigste Grundlage für die Diagnostik der Herzerkrankungen zu betrachten und mit diesen Befunden, deren Feststellung jedem Arzt möglich ist, die Ergebnisse aller technischen Unter· suchungsverfahren (Röntgenuntersuchung, Elektrokardiographie, Phonokardio· graphie, Herzkatheterismus, Angiokardiographie u. a.) in Einklang zu bringen. In einer Zeit der überwertung angeblich objektiver Registrierverfahren ist, glaube ich, eine Erneuerung und Betonung der früheren klassischen Untersuchungen des Herzens im Rahmen der gesamten Herzdiagnostik äußerst nützlich. Zusammen mit dem Springer. Verlag bin ich Herrn DONALD Ross sehr dank· bar, daß er unserer Bitte entsprochen hat, diese Einführung in die moderne Dia· gnostik, die bescheiden als "A Surgeons' Guide to Cardiac Diagnosis" betitelt ist, zu verfassen. Dem vorliegenden Bändchen soll ein zweites über Indikationen und Operationsverfahren der angeborenen und erworbenen Herzerkrankungen folgen.