Volume
II, Issue 6 - Reclaiming Your Vulnerable Independence June
15, 2006
This free
online monthly newsletter is published on the 15th of every
month by
Maggie Lichtenberg, PCC
Recent open heart surgery patient and thriver
Reclaiming Your Vulnerable Independence
Shared Experiences
First Hospital Sale for
the Book
Free Heart Surgery Phone Support Group
Library Journal
Review
A Letter from My Surgeon
Advance Praise
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My selection of a topic for this
month is taken from Chapter 7, "From
the ICU to the Journey Home,"
from The
Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart
Surgery Recovery. The
book's Table
of Contents is on the website www.openheartcoach.com.
Reclaiming Your Vulnerable
Independence
Recovery from an open-heart operation,
if it’s to
be swift and optimal, demands that the patient take a stand
for his or her own self-care and independence. Even a gifted
cardiologist can do just so much for you. It’s those
patients who take an active role—who are being honest
with themselves about how they really feel, who
are acting on their feelings by asking questions and getting
help, who are promising themselves to stick to healthier
lifestyle choices (which is difficult to do)—who
create the optimal conditions for successful recoveries.
Taking this kind of responsibility
for oneself means agreeing to work with personal discomfort,
both physical and mental. Not everyone is up for this.
For every patient who relishes taking control, who follows
a self-made walking-resting-breathing schedule and reports
any concerns to their medical team, there is another
patient for whom reestablishing self-reliance is a challenge.
Ultimately, your returning health depends upon your attitude.
Just as it takes about one month to deliberately break
a habit if we commit to positive thinking and action
on a daily basis, we can also retrain our thinking to
welcome the gift of returning heart health, discomforts
and all. Though still feeling vulnerable, work in partnership
with everyone on your medical team. Defer to doctors’ instructions
but always be ready to ask questions about what
concerns you. In other words, even while you’re still
in the hospital, be cooperative yet remain vigilant.
We’ve heard again from Susan in the UK, and I am
happy to share how positive she is feeling eleven weeks
past her surgery:
"It
seems a long time ago that I wrote to you, well, its
11 weeks today since I had my surgery, I last wrote
to you after 5 weeks and 4 days when I felt quite down
and alone. I have since started cardiac rehab
and the sun is shining.
""Joining the rehab programme
has been really good for me, I am getting stronger,
still not back to what I was prior to the op but
so much better than 5 weeks ago, still get tired
but no where near as much as I did. I can now
reflect positively about how far I progressed.
"Still not back at work, but
not much longer before I am. Today here in
East Sussex the
bluebells are flowering, the sun is shining, the sky
is blue. Life is good!!!!!!!!!!! How I dreamed of feeling
the sun back in February when I was in hospital and
feeling poorly. There is light at the end of
the tunnel I just needed more patience to get there."
—Susan J. Self from the UK
Please
Share Your Experiences
Please
email me at Maggie@openheartcoach.com
observations and experiences that will be informative to
others, like the commentary from Susan, for future issues
of Heart
to Heart or
for a future edition of The
Open Heart Companion. Please
include your first and last names, city and state. Thank
you!
If
you have purchased and used the E-Book or the paperback
book, The
Open Heart Companion,
please let me hear from you. What sections of the
book were most useful to you? Where did you wish
I would have included more information? What helped
you the most, and why? With your permission, I would
love to share your story or your review of the book.
First hospital sale for the book!
St. Vincent’s Hospital, in Santa
Fe, NM, has purchased a bulk quantity of The Open Heart Companion,
and they are giving a book to everyone who goes through
St. Vincent’s
new open-heart surgery program.
In a feature story in the Santa Fe New Mexican on
June 10, 2006, entitled “Eldorado author coaches open-heart
patients through surgery, recovery,” nurse and case
manager Francie Handler is quoted:
“We give out her book to
all of our patients. Everything she has in there is right
on. They are usually really grateful to get it.”
Read complete Santa Fe New Mexican article
by clicking
here.
Free Heart Surgery Phone Support
Group
I am currently leading a free monthly
heart surgery support group for both caregivers and patients.
It is by telephone for
one hour on a teleconference line that we all call into.
The next call will be Tuesday
evening, July 11, 2006, 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Eastern time (or, depending on your time zone, beginning
8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, or 6:00 PM Pacific). For
a complete description and to register to receive the call-in
number, go to http://openheartcoach.com/PhoneSupportGroup.html
Official book launch for The Open Heart Companion at
Borders:
You are invited to a talk by Maggie
Lichtenberg to CELEBRATE the publication of her book
What: “Move
from Denial into Action When Facing a Major Medical
Challenge”
Talk Book Signing Reception
When: Saturday,
June 17, 2006, 2:00 – 3:00
PM
Where: Borders
Sanbusco, 500
Montezuma Avenue, Santa Fe, NM |
Click
here for the book's description. Click
here for ordering the paperback book, the E-Book,
or both together at a discounted
price.
Library Journal review excerpt – June
15, 2006 issue
"... Where this book excels-and
many hospitals fail-is in sharing insight on what you can expect in
the transition from hospital to home and how to best manage the four-
to eight-week period of home recovery....This book does an excellent
job of encompassing patient-center concepts and helping readers become
knowledgeable about hospital processes and procedures that can often
cause stress and discomfort. Highly recommended for public and consumer
libraries."
Read complete Library Journal review by clicking
here.
An excerpt from a letter from my
Mayo Clinic Surgeon, Dr. Joseph Dearani
"... The
Open Heart Companion is a superb
accomplishment and a very practical guide for patients
requiring heart surgery. It
is extremely well organized, very informative, and provides
a profile for how we (medical profession) can do it better.
"The perspective of someone who has
experienced a particular situation is often more insightful
than that of experts with formalized training. In
fact, experience brings its own expertise and that's what
is in your book. Your
words have helped me become a better surgeon, not in the
operating room, put in pre- and post-operative care — thank
you. ..."
Joseph
A. Dearani,
Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Mayo Clinic
(written March 22,
2006)
Advance praise for The
Open Heart Companion
| Mehmet C. Oz, MD, pioneering heart
surgeon and author of Healing
from the Heart |
"This passionate and personal guide
will help you both survive and thrive after open-heart surgery.” |
| Christiane Northrup, MD, author
of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom |
“The Open Heart Companion is must reading
for anyone who requires open-heart surgery.” |
| Marianne J. Legato, MD, author of The
Female Heart: The Truth about Women and Heart Disease |
"This beautifully written, comprehensive and absolutely
accurate account of how to go into, come out of, and recover from open
heart surgery is a must for patients and physicians alike." |
| Amy Verstappen, President, Adult Congenital Heart Association
(ACHA) |
"Drawn from dozens of patient and caregiver interviews, the book
is filled with specific exercises and insights to make the open-heart experience
easier on the patient and loved ones." |
| Kathleen Blake, MD, cardiologist
at The New Mexico Heart Institute, from
her Foreword to The
Open Heart Companion: Preparation
and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery |
“I am grateful to at last have a guide I
can recommend not just to my patients and their families, but also to
my medical and nursing colleagues as we strive to improve the care our
patients receive.” |
I look forward to receiving your feedback –
Warmly, Heart to Heart,
Maggie |
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Heart to Heart,
Copyright (C) 2006 Maggie Lichtenberg. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced without express
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Maggie Lichtenberg, Publisher
Open Heart Publishing
4 Cosmos Court
Santa Fe, NM 87508-2285
Website:OpenHeartCoach.com
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