A Life That changed in a heartbeat. Diagnosed with a heart condition that promised to keep him bedridden for the rest of his life, Anders couldn't believe his ears when the new doctor told him to get out of bed and live a normal life. That was when Anders
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Unconventional ideas ... the yeast that leavened the bread",
By
This review is from: A Romance with the Heart: An Intimate Look at the Life and work of a Pioneer in Heart Medicine (Paperback)
Medical trends and treatments change rapidly, with innovation driven by science and by the questioning minds of those involved in the field. Every doctor has to go through the looking-glass, becoming a person who is competent in the the various aspects of doctoring. Many doctors have written thoughtfully about their own training and careers. Dr. Myrvin Ellestad offers us his own story: why he decided to become a doctor, what his training was like, how the challenges of his career led him to become an innovator. Ellestad, the grandson of Norwegian immigrants, grew up in the California Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1928, when he was 7 years old, he fell ill with a streptococcal infection and the family doctor believed his heart valves had been damaged, consigning him to protracted bed rest. When a new young doctor found his heart to be sound except for a non-threatening murmur, the boy had found a hero and mentor and determined to become a doctor himself. After college, medical school, and a stint in the Navy, Ellestad took up his residency training in California. Well grounded in pathology, he began working in the field of cardiology, then in its infancy. A ROMANCE WITH THE HEART gives an insider's view of developing technology we now take for granted. Dr. Ellestad outlines some of the technical, legal and ethical dilemmas that are so intrinsic to modern medicine. Dr. Ellestad chose to attribute his own story to a fictional character named Anders Erickssen, giving the book less immediacy than other books in the genre -- for example, Dr. William A. Nolen's classic from the 1970s, THE MAKING OF A SURGEON. There is much that interests me here, from the tales of Dr. Ellestad's youth, to the early days of clinical trials and predictive databases, to the political background of his consultancy with the FAA. I found it hard to rank this book but settled on three stars. I'm glad we have this much of the author's fascinating story, and wish we had a lot more. Linda Bulger, 2008
5.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect Read for Anyone with a Heart,
By
This review is from: A Romance with the Heart: An Intimate Look at the Life and work of a Pioneer in Heart Medicine (Paperback)
Although the author is a nationally known surgeon with a top local reputation for care, I had no idea how much I could learn just by reading about this field, my interest in which being spurred by my husband's heart problem. I was expecting some dry, impenetrable, unreadable tome that would never hold my interest, probably written in a manner that I, a layman, could never understand.
Wow! it was one of the most engaging reads I've enjoyed in a long time. Interesting anecdotes and experiences really drive the points home, while amusing and informing the reader. I was also struck by the many different types of readers who could benefit from this compact, interesting book: 1. Anyone who has, is related to or friends with, anyone with any kind of heart disease. 2. Anyone considering a career in medicine, especially but not limited to, a career in cardiology. 3. Anyone who is interested in the progress of science, its many fits and starts, who can take pleasure in the real accomplishments which are regularly saving lives, as a validation of a major field of endeavor. 4. Any management scholar (that'd be me) or practitioner who has to deal with organizations and a bureaucracy in order to make his or her professional dreams come to life. Ellestad, himself the actual inventor (!) of the most commonly used first line of diagnostic defense (right, getting on a treadmill - we all know people who've done it) in determining if there's something wrong with the heart, breathes real life into the challenges of creating these advancements, even as he paints a picture of a physician who is clearly not just enormously qualified, but also careful, and compassionate with his patients. Probably the best reason for someone to get this book, other than if you are looking for an inspiring gift for that nephew who is considering careers or just got into medical school, any nurse or similar who has to work with MD's during his or her career, a science buff who is curious about scientific advances, or someone who enjoys autobiographies of accomplished people, is simply because it removes so much of the scariness of this whole area. After reading this book, both my husband and I found it much less daunting to discuss and plan his treatment with the medical professionals we dealt with, easier to understand what was going on, much easier to consider how and where we could get the help we needed, and comforting to know that those on the other side of the desk were caring professionals who (if they were like this guy) were approachable, and not tin gods who could not even be questioned. That comfort has to improve my husband's heart's condition, and I sure know it did mine!
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Held at arm's length,
By
This review is from: A Romance with the Heart: An Intimate Look at the Life and work of a Pioneer in Heart Medicine (Paperback)
A Romance With the Heart is a small collection of recollections written by Dr. Myrvin Ellestad. Spanning the years from a Depression-era childhood, through his education and the beginning of his medical practice into the era of interventional cardiac procedures, Dr. Ellestad shares glimpses into his life. There is a brief and all too confusing Forward that explains the author uses the pseudonym Anders Erickssen as a method "to add local color and reduce the impact of some of the episodes included". This does create an arms-length impression that adds to the aloof nature of the book. The stories are very brief and lack emotional depth. This is a very was brief look into a physician who was on the forefront of cardiology with some of the newest technology available in the cardiac arena.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
