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

Rating:
Summary: Misleadingly Titled
Review: 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 (although 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" by John W. Farquhar, MD, and Gene A. Spiller, PdD, which contains excellent advice for people interested in obtaining the latest accurate information on heart disease without the proselytizing contained in this book. It is also significantly better written.

Rating:
Summary: AN ESSENTIAL FOR ANYONE ABOUT TO UNDERGO HEART SURGERY
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: How to avoid depression after heart surgery.
Review: 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.