Open hearts
Subtitle: stories of the surgery that changes children's lives
By: Kate Bull
Publisher: Elliott & Thompson Limited
Published: 2016
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 310
ISBN-13: 9781783962273; 9781783962280
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Congenital heart disease; Heart; Case studies; Surgery; Congenital Heart Defects; History; Cardiopathie congénitale; Herzchirurgie; Herzkrankheit; Kind
Description: "Until the 1960s "blue babies" were a striking sight in our streets. Suffering from congenital heart disease offered a bleak outlook to young patients and a heartbreaking experience for parents. Very few would make it to adulthood; now, in the West at least, most have a much higher chance of survival. In Open Hearts Kate Bull tells not just of the development of heart surgery in children, but of the patients, past and present, whose lives have been transformed. Besides the technology, the sociology of medicine has changed substantially since the 1950s - think of the atmosphere of children's wards. Other things have barely changed - consider the dread of kissing your child goodbye at the door of an operating theatre in any era. Children's heart surgery is often seen as a medical triumph; but, for all the successful operations completed, thousands of pioneering patients have gone before, perhaps facing their own uncertain futures. Today, we place great hope in the power of science. Many lives have been saved; but, sometimes, we ask medicine to do more than it can. By turns frightening, heart-wrenching and inspiring, Open Hearts is a powerful story of medical progress, hope and survival."--Inside front cover of dustjacket.
Notes: Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [299]-303) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: 1. Beginnings; title: 2 Minnesota, Tuesday 31 August 1954; title: 3. When nothing is done; title: 4. Birth was almost the death of him; title: 5 'Those children are my crossword puzzles'; title: 6. When did you last see a blue baby?; title: 7. Going into hospital; title: 8. Magic sleep; title: 9. Cold hearts; title: 10. 'It's a very detailed and complex operation ...'; title: 11. This won't hurt a bit: recovery; title: 12. Finding a new normal: after surgery; title: 13 Dirty washing; title: 14 Flying solo; title: 15. Grown up and trying to do normal things; title: 16. Having a baby; title: what's the big deal?; title: 17. Rhythm problems and other woes: the rise of the expert patient; title: 18. 'Death alone is certain, the time of death is uncertain'; title: 19. What's new? (Besides innovation); title: Appendix.