Download or read book From Hard Life To Heart Surgeon written by Danny Colton and published by Professional Publishing. This book was released on 2004-07-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout his childhood, he was told he was not good enough, not smart enough, not worthy to be loved. But, Dr. Colton learned to love himself, and to extend that love to a wife and five children. He overcame many obstacles -- from racism to lack of money to challenging surgical programs -- to achieve his goal. And he learned to reach back to his community, to help young people in need, and, above all, to teach his fellow humans to love their neighbors. "From Hard Life to Heart Surgeon: Love Thy Neighbor" is a success story unlike anything you have ever read. It is the story of how Danny Colton became a surgeon, but it is also the story of how Danny Colton became a good man. It just may change your life.

Download or read book Open Heart written by Stephen Westaby and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2017-06-20 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book King of Hearts written by G. Wayne Miller and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2000-02-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Beat of Life written by Reinhard Friedl and published by Black Inc.. This book was released on 2021-02-02 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Healing from the Heart written by Mehmet C. Oz M.D. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1999-10-01 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Mehmet Oz, celebrated heart surgeon and co-founder of the Complementary Care Center at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital, is spearheading the health-care revolution that is yielding powerful new healing tools that will forever change the way we think of medicine. In this ground-breaking book, he describes his pioneering work--combining cutting-edge Western medicine with such Eastern techniques as acupuncture and chi-gong, as well as such controversial therapies as hypnosis, music, massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, and energy healing. The inspiring and affecting stories of his patients are the heart of this book--from the extraordinary discipline of Frank Torre, who used his professional sports training to "psych" himself into healing after heart transplant surgery, to the "impossible" recovery of blues great Johnny Copeland, who was roused from a seemingly impenetrable coma through the force of his own music. In recounting his patients' experiences, Dr. Oz forges a blueprint for the radical new medicine of the next millennium--drawing on the best from Eastern and Western therapies and empowering patients to become partners with doctors in promoting their own recovery.

Download or read book Your Heart My Hands written by Arun K Singh and published by Center Street. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "An absorbing account." --Jhumpa Lahiri 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.

Download or read book Scrubbed written by Nikki Stamp and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revealing, compelling memoir of one of Australia's foremost cardiothoracic surgeons, Dr Nikki Stamp. Raw, honest and compelling, Scrubbed is Dr Nikki Stamp's account of her life as one of Australia's leading cardiothoracic surgeons. A life lived at the very edge of modern medicine, where heart surgeons walk the thinnest of lines between life and death, and yet where the greatest challenge can be the medical system itself. From childhood Nikki Stamp wanted to be a doctor. It was a calling, not a career. Her love for her vocation only grew as a medical student, and as a young registrar going through training rotations she fell, totally and utterly, for the hugely demanding specialty of cardiothoracic surgery. But alongside the excitement and enormous challenges of trying to make it in one of the toughest and most competitive fields of surgery came warning signs. Even in the operating theatre, where she felt most alive, she battled with sexism, enormous egos and at times outright bullying. And within the hospital system she lived with inhuman hours, chronic sleep deprivation and bureaucratic mismanagement that had a profoundly damaging effect on her life outside of work. From the drama of the operating theatre, filled with both triumph and tragedy, to the brutal realities of surgical training and the sacrifices needed to make it to the top, to entrenched misogyny and the grinding nature of hospital politics, Scrubbed is one of the most revealing books yet written about the real life and experiences of a surgeon.

Download or read book No Crying Allowed written by Christopher J. Knott-Craig MD and published by Archway Publishing. This book was released on 2018-10-10 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the Author of Lend Me a Kiss,The Weird Animal Club, and Bedtime Dinosaur Stories for Kids From the time author Christopher J. Knott-Craig was fourteen years old, he wanted to be a heart surgeon. He had followed Professor Christiaan Barnard’s career and first heart transplant in December 1967, and he wanted to be like him and work for him. Knott-Craig started his cardiac surgery training in 1980, and about six months later, his professor suggested he try a different specialty. Undaunted, he begged for a second chance, which the professor reluctantly granted. Through perseverance, hard work, and determination, Knott-Craig became an internationally recognized pediatric cardiac surgeon. In No Crying Allowed, with self-deprecating humor, he shares a collection of essays chronicling the trials and tribulations he experienced on his journey to following his dream to succeed. Chris Knott-Craig has assembled an anthology of essays describing some of the challenges and triumphs he has experienced during his remarkable career as a pediatric heart surgeon. Above all, the takeaway message is the importance of persistence in the face of what often appear to be insurmountable obstacles to a successful career in this daunting field of endeavor. —Richard Jonas MD, President of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons

Download or read book Close to the Sun written by Stuart Jamieson and published by RosettaBooks. This book was released on 2019-03-12 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “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

Download or read book The Man Who Touched His Own Heart written by Rob Dunn and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The secret history of our most vital organ: the human heart. The Man Who Touched His Own Heart tells the raucous, gory, mesmerizing story of the heart, from the first "explorers" who dug up cadavers and plumbed their hearts' chambers, through the first heart surgeries -- which had to be completed in three minutes before death arrived -- to heart transplants and the latest medical efforts to prolong our hearts' lives, almost defying nature in the process. Thought of as the seat of our soul, then as a mysteriously animated object, the heart is still more a mystery than it is understood. Why do most animals only get one billion beats? (And how did modern humans get to over two billion, effectively letting us live out two lives?) Why are sufferers of gingivitis more likely to have heart attacks? Why do we often undergo expensive procedures when cheaper ones are just as effective? What do Da Vinci, Mary Shelley, and contemporary Egyptian archaeologists have in common? And what does it really feel like to touch your own heart, or to have someone else's beating inside your chest? Rob Dunn's fascinating history of our hearts brings us deep inside the science, history, and stories of the four chambers we depend on most.

Download or read book Christiaan Barnard written by David Cooper and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-12-17 with total page 860 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Surgeons Life and Death in a Top Heart Center written by Charles R. Morris and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-10-17 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Insightful and filled with verve…electrifying." —Wall Street Journal Hailed as "an astute book of enormous importance" (Sherwin Nuland), The Surgeons follows the team at one of the world's premier cardiac surgery and transplant centers. Given unprecedented access, Charles R. Morris recounts in thrilling detail a late-night against-the-clock "harvest run" to secure a precious transplantable organ, the heartbreaking story of a child's failed transplant, and more. Along the way, Morris reflects on how doctors really think, rising health care costs, and the future of health care in America.

Download or read book A Heart Surgeon s Little Instruction Book written by Daniel Waters and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 1995-07 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Amazing Adventures of a Heart Surgeon written by Domingo Liotta and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2007-03-25 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The startling originality of Amazing Adventures of a Heart Surgeon is intrinsically imbued in its focus on historical ethics and esthetic theories. Author and cardiovascular surgeon Domingo Liotta provides a penetrating interpretation from the first millennium BC, considered a major mystery to the world, to modern science. He also discusses the early conception of cardiovascular system, the oxygenation of tissues, the mysterious medical power of shamanism, Taoism, Ugarit, the mythic lost city. It is in this unique melding of Science and humanism that Liotta vehemently intends the definition of a good medical doctor-while recounting the story of his remarkable life. These lectures portray Liotta's dedication in search of the hearts of studious and meditative youths reluctant to change their tools of comprehension and the strategies for mastering difficult-to-understand topics. Thus, Liotta's interests extend from pure science to many adjoining fields-such as philosophy, philology, theology, and education. He shares his knowledge of modern scientific results and his enormous historical information to help rescue his bewildered students. In a collaborative endeavor between science and humanities, Amazing Adventures of a Heart Surgeon reflects Liotta's marvelous adventure to develop the first totally artificial heart and its clinical application-the first in the history of mankind-in his tireless fight for human life.

Download or read book Hearfelt Stories written by Omar Lattouf and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-30 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking back through his nearly forty-year career, Dr. Omar Lattouf vividly recounts his experiences as a heart surgeon layered in personal and professional stories. From his education and residency training through later years as an independent surgeon, Dr. Lattouf dedicated himself to providing care to patients suffering from numerous cardiac aliments. While expressing complete confidence in his decision to become a cardiac surgeon, Dr. Lattouf acknowledges that if he didn't grow up in an age before calculators and harbor a deep distaste for the ?slide rule?, he likely would have become an engineer. A career as a physician, however, was not without hardship. Detailing his early training of long hours in the operating room and intensive care units, a picture of the passion, determination, and experience required to excel as a physician quickly becomes clear. Days without sleep were common, and the tremendous burden of losing a patient is one never far from Dr. Lattouf's mind. Yet he also reflects on the more positive opportunities, including his participation in the emerging world of heart and heart lung transplantation that resulted in over one hundred, adrenaline inducing heart transplant ?runs'. And those of his later years, distinguished by thousands of operations, ranging from the ordinary to those never before attempted.Although this book details only part of the endless encounters that constituted his career, these stories are those that most shaped him as a person and left an indelible effect on his memory. Knowing that his remarkable career was facilitated by those around him, Dr. Lattouf simultaneously strives to thank those colleagues and family members who supported him throughout, and pass along guidance to those that will follow his path. And ultimately, from moments of failure to hair-raising encounters and achievements, these Heartfelt Stories illuminate the complex life of a heart surgeon.ALL OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS BOOK WILL GO TO SUPPORT CARDIOVASCULAR EDUCATION AND CARDIOVASCULAR PATIENT CARE.THE AUTHOR WILL NOT USE ANY OF THE PROCEEDS FOR PERSONAL BENEFIT

Download or read book Pioneers of Cardiac Surgery written by William S. Stoney and published by Vanderbilt University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heart operations today are quite common and relatively low-risk, but in the beginning it was just the opposite. Cardiac operations were reserved for desperately ill patients. The author documents this dramatic transition with profiles of 38 surgeons who were active between 1940 and 1985. The profiles are edited transcripts of interviews videotaped between 1996 and 2004. They tell of the development of new techniques such as the "blue baby operation," the first heart-lung machine, the first artificial heart valve, and the first coronary bypass operation. They also tell the unusual life stories of the surgeons and allude to professional and institutional rivalries. A particularly valuable part of the book is the author's brief history of cardiac surgery, designed to orient the reader for reading the profiles that follow.

Download or read book Fragile Lives written by Stephen Westaby and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-01-11 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An incredible memoir from one of the world's most eminent heart surgeons and some of the most remarkable and poignant cases he's worked on. Grim Reaper sits on the heart surgeon's shoulder. A slip of the hand and life ebbs away. The balance between life and death is so delicate, and the heart surgeon walks that rope between the two. In the operating room there is no time for doubt. It is flesh, blood, rib-retractors and pumping the vital organ with your bare hand to squeeze the life back into it. An off-day can have dire consequences - this job has a steep learning curve, and the cost is measured in human life. Cardiac surgery is not for the faint of heart. Professor Stephen Westaby took chances and pushed the boundaries of heart surgery. He saved hundreds of lives over the course of a thirty-five year career and now, in his astounding memoir, Westaby details some of his most remarkable and poignant cases - such as the baby who had suffered multiple heart attacks by six months old, a woman who lived the nightmare of locked-in syndrome, and a man whose life was powered by a battery for eight years. A powerful, important and incredibly moving book, Fragile Lives offers an exceptional insight into the exhilarating and sometimes tragic world of heart surgery, and how it feels to hold someone's life in your hands.