Customer Reviews

Coping with Heart Surgery and Bypassing Depression: A Family's Guide to the Medical, Emotional and Practical Issues

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I found this book after my mother underwent valve replacement surgery and was experiencing deep depression. If we had had this book BEFORE the experience we both think things would have gone a great deal better. I cannot recommend it highly enough; the book is very clear on the actual process of heart surgery as well as the aftermath and road to recovery. A beautiful treatment of the psychological issues raised by this experience for both the patient and his or her family.

I was fortunate to find a copy of this excellent book which prevented me from being depressed after my triple bypass surgery on August 5, 1999. Having read it, I was prepared for the outcome BEFORE the surgery. It was like having the shop manual for an automobile in your hand. I would recommend it to anyone who will have open heart surgery.

A more accurate title for this book would be "The Spiritual Person's Guide to Coping With Heart Surgery and Bypassing Depression." Although it contains much good (but poorly organized) practical advice, it also contains many of the homilies held so dear by members of that group. Those who share similar beliefs will find it comforting, while others are likely to find it cloying.

Readers of a more practical bent should consider buying instead Diagnosis: Heart Disease: Answers to Your Questions about Recovery and Lasting Health by John W. Farquhar, MD, and Gene A. Spiller, PdD, which contains excellent advice for people interested in obtaining accurate information on heart disease without the proselytizing contained in this book. It is also significantly better written.

ICON Publications publishes some excellent books on specific diseases, including Heart Bypass Surgery: A Medical Dictionary, Bibliography, And Annotated Research Guide To Internet References and Heart Valve Surgery: A Medical Dictionary, Bibliography, And Annotated Research Guide To Internet References.

Also, Dr. Vincent Gaudiani, a noted heart surgeoun, has put together some excellent tutorials on heart surgery that appear on youtube. Search under "Vincent Gaudiani" and "heart surgery".

If you are going to have heart surgery, or somebody you live with is, I recommend you get this book. Reading and talking about what the authors say is crucial to a complete recovery. Depression after a big event like this is more common that I wish, and you will learn how to reduce its incidence. My husband had this surgery years ago, and he found this book on his own; I hope by now more surgeons and cardiologists are either recommending it to clients and families, or giving it to them as part of the pre-hospitalization.