While writing a book like Surviving Transplantation, it can be hard to know where to stop. There are many topics that we could discuss further. We have emphasized those events that transplant candidates and recipients face commonly. And we have offered some ideas for how you might deal with the challenges that arise. But we have touched only briefly on the many ideas and techniques that you might find helpful.
We hope that you are satisfied with what you have read in this book. If so, then we have achieved what we set out to accomplish, to enlighten but not be overly tedious. However, you may have read something that interests you or is especially relevant to your own situation. We list in this appendix, selected readings for those who wish to pursue some topic in more depth. Dozens of other books are available at any good bookstore.
Many Sleepless Nights is a story of transplantation as told by surgeons, nurses, candidates, recipients, and others associated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, a world renowned transplant center. This book's first section tells of the medical advances that led to the success of organ transplantation. Through the use of personal accounts, Many Sleepless Nights leads the reader through the transplant process, from the time of organ donation through to life as an organ transplant recipient. (Lee Gutkind; W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. and Penguin Books Canada Ltd., 1988)
Two Lives on Hold describes what it was like for Joan and William Squadron to wait for the heart-lung transplant. The surgery was necessary to save Joan from dying with cystic fibrosis. Their story is told with the realism and insight that comes only with firsthand experience. (William Squadron; The New York Times Magazine, December 18, 1988)
"We Have A Donor:" The Bold New World of Organ Transplantation tracks through the medical system, several organs that are generously offered for transplantation by a grieving family. Separate chapters describe heart, kidney, corneal and other types of transplant as different recipients receive an organ from this single donor. Insightful and compelling, the reader will be amazed by the huge network of persons whose lives are touched by this one act of giving. (Mark Dowie; St. Martin's Press, New York, NY, 1988)
Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-And-Death Dilemmas of the New Medicine is written by the director of the Heart and Heart-Lung Transplant Program of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. It describes first hand, the day to day decisions and excitement of working on a transplant team. Only a surgeon at the center of it all could write a book with detail as compelling and real to life. (William Frist; Ballantine Books, New York, NY, 1989)
Building A New Dream is the best and most comprehensive guide available for finding your way through the health care system. Written by a director of the Toronto Lung Transplant Program and an educator, it tells you how to approach your doctor, what questions to ask and what happens when you are ill. Real life examples explain how patients and their families deal with physical illness. Janet Maurer and P. Strasberg; Simon & Schuster Inc., New York, NY, 198)
Take Charge of Your Health: A Personal Health Record ant Reference. Do you get tired of providing your history over and over again? Do doctors and nurses sometimes forget to ask about important information? Do you sometimes forget the name of that drug that you took for a few months, several years back? This pocket size, personal health record will help you to organize all-important information about any previous illness and treatment. (Elizabeth Etue and P.D. Chalmers; Summerhill Press Ltd., 1985)
Patient Beware: Dealing With Doctors and Other Medical Dilemmas describes some problems with how women are perceived and treated by the medical profession. It explains how a female health care consumer can improve her communication with doctors. (Cynthia Carver; Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario, 1984)
Medical Choices - Medical Chances is a highly unique book. Most people find comfort in their lives in part, by expecting a predictable course to their future life. Serious illness can challenge this assumption. It does not discuss transplantation. But this book intertwines personal accounts and philosophical discussion to help the medical or surgical patient deal with uncertainty. (Harold Busztajn, Richard Feinbloom, Robert Hamm, and Archie Bodsky; Rortledge, New York, NY, 1990)
The People's Book of Medical Tests describes over 200 tests. We suggest that you ask your doctor or nurse any questions that you have. But if you like detailed information, this is the book for you. It tells you why your doctor may have ordered a test, what it will be like for you, and what the results mean. Generally, this book is easy to read, with little medical jargon. Two doctors wrote it. (David Sobel and Tom Ferguson; Summit Books, 1985, New York, 1985)
Coping With Kidney Failure is a guide to living with kidney disease and dialysis. Like other books on coping with illness, it deals with the personal aspects of kidney failure. This book is written for both patients and their families. (Robert Phillips; Avery Publishing Group Inc., New York, NY, 1987)
Living With Diabetes offers strategies for facing the challenges of this illness. It is written for anybody with insulin dependent diabetes. Endorsed by the Canadian Diabetic Association. (Heather MacLean and Barbara Oram; University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1988)
Living With Angina covers everything that you might want to know about angina. A cardiologist writes it. James Pantaro; Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1990)
The Healing Heart is an appropriate title for this book. Written by a heart attack survivor, it suggests how you can overcome panic, optimize healing and rediscover living. (Norman Cousins; Avon Books, New York, NY, 1983)
The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook is a shopping catalogue of ideas for stress management. A few pages are taken to describe each of the various relaxation and stress management techniques. Topics include self-hypnosis, guided imagery, meditation, progressive muscular relaxation, and assertiveness training. Step-by-step instructions allow self-directed learning. This book has won a Medical Self-Care book award and sold over 200,000 copies. (Third Edition by Martha Davis, Elizabeth Robbins Eshelman and Matthew McKay; New Harbinger Publications, Oakland, Cal, 1988)
The Relaxation Response boils the relaxation movement down to its basics. It explains a simple technique that elicits a state that the author calls the relaxation response. Examples show the usefulness of the relaxation response for those with high blood pressure and irregular heartbeats. This book is widely recognized as a classic in the field. A professor of medicine at Harvard University writes it. (Herbert Benson; William Morrow and Co., 1975)
Beyond The Relaxation Response again describes the basic principles of physiological relaxation. But this book also introduces the concept of mantra. Using both traditional and modern teachings, the author makes a case for the mantra's role in the benefits derived from relaxation practices. (By Herbert Benson; Times Books, 1984)
Minding the Body, Mending the Mind takes a broad approach to the health benefits of tension release. Several strategies for dealing with stress are discussed. The book includes step by step directions and personal accounts of their use. Written by a leading medical researcher into the health benefits of relaxation. Jean Borysenko; Bantam Books, 1988)
Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness describes a program taught by the Stress Reduction Clinic of the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre. A leading expert writes it on the health benefits of mindfulness meditation. The application of this ancient technique is explained with a sophistication and detail that is not available elsewhere. The reader will learn about basic meditation techniques and their use in daily life. Jon Kabat-Zinn; Dell Publishing, New York, NY, 1990)
The Complete Book of Self-Hypnosis is an introductory, step by step guide for the reader who wishes to develop their hypnotic ability. John Yates and Elizabeth Wallace; Ballantine Books, New York, NY, 1984)
Imagery in Healing: Shamanism and Modern Medicine is a thoughtful rendition of the role of mental imagery in healing. Ancient healing rituals are discussed along with modern psychological techniques. It is written for the serious reader who wants to explore this topic fully. Jeanne Achterberg; New Science Library, Boston, 1985)
Hope and Help For Your Nerves has become a standard for therapists to recommend to their anxious clients. It helps the reader to deal with excessive worry, nervous tension, and phobias. The book is easily readable and full of helpful hints. (Claire Weekes; Signet Edition, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 1990)
Peace From Nervous Suffering has sold over one-quarter million copies. What more can we say? (Claire Weekes; Signet Edition, Penguin Books, New York, NY, 1990)
Love, Medicine, and Miracles is now a classic. It draws upon a variety of traditional and popular systems to offer inspiration for those living with physical illness. (Bernie Siegel; Harper & Row, 1986)
The Joy of Stress talks about many causes of stress, both physical and emotional. Since we all have to live with some degree of stress in life, why not read a book that tells us how to make the best of it. It explains how to use stress as a vitalizing force. (Peter Hanson; Hanson Stress Management Organization, Toronto, 1985)
On Death And Dying is the classic work that describes the author's work with terminally ill patients. This is the author largely responsible for popularizing a compassionate attitude towards the dying. The stages of grief and the psychological sequelae of death and dying are described. The personal examples are heart rendering. (Elizabeth Kubler-Ross; Macmillan Publishing Co., New York, NY, 1969)
Beyond Loss: A Practical Guide Through Grief to a Meaningful Life talks directly to the grieving reader. Comprehensive and compassionate, it provides some guidance and reassurance during the pain of bereavement. (Lilly Singer, Margarot Sirot and Susan Rodd; E.P. Dutton, New York, NY, 1988)
The Death of Ivan Ilyich can be read in less than an hour. But you are not likely to forget what you read. Leo Tolstoy spent over a decade musing about death and dying. This short novel was the result. Written long before any psychological or scientific studies were undertaken, it describes a man's life and death. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is remarkable reading. It cannot help but make you think about your own life. (Leo Tolstoy; Bantam Books, New York, NY, 1987)
Choices: For People Who Have a Terminal Illness, Their Families and Their Caregivers. Few people are much prepared for their own or a loved one's imminent death. Compassion and practicality are combined in this book that guides you through the final weeks of life. Excellent chapters are included on hospice care, pain control, euthanasia, and funeral arrangements.
Many, who would have previously been considered terminally ill, now have the option of an organ transplant. Transplantation offers hope for recovery where none before existed. But transplantation does not eradicate any risk of death. Many sections of this book are highly applicable to transplant candidates and recipients who take the approach of hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. (Harry van Bommel; NC Press Limited, Toronto, 1989)
When Bad Things Happen To Good People tells of one man's search for meaning after his son is diagnosed with a deadly disease. A compassionate and deeply personal account, Publisher's Weekly said that this book should be read by all people in trouble, no matter what their religious faith . . . An unprecedented source of comfort and reassurance. (Harold S. Kushner; Avon Books, New York, NY, 1981)
Healing Into Life And Death. We are led to believe that healing entails a fight against illness. Our weapons include drugs, surgery, imagery, positive thinking, and so on. But Stephen Levine re-examines the question: What is healing?
Acceptance of illness is typically equated with resignation. This author suggests that healing involves, but is not limited to, fighting illness. He offers that healing may require acceptance of illness and grief, allowing one to move beyond suffering to a new perspective on illness. Recommended only for readers who wish to tear themselves apart in a search for meaning within illness and death. (Stephen Levine; Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, 1987)
Who Dies? An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying quotes the following passage from a headstone in Ashly, Massachusetts: Remember, friends, as you pass by, as you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you must be. Prepare yourself to follow me. A challenging guide for working with death, your own or others. Written for those who desire to live life to the fullest. (Stephen Levine; Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1982)
On Children and Death discusses a painful topic with compassion and insight. To understand how children of different ages understand death is vital. This is true whether helping them to deal with their own potential death or the death of someone close to them. Contains an extensive list of other reading resources. (Elizabeth Kubler-Ross; Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1983)
Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon, Survival of Bodily Death is the classic citation for near death experiences. Personal accounts as told by patients to a physician. (Raymond Moody Jr.; Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, P.A., 1976)
The Light Beyond reports on a further decade of this author's investigation of near-death experiences. (Raymond Moody; Bantam Books, 1988)
Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times rakes a broad and scholarly approach. Rich with historical accounts, this book refers to each of religious, paranormal and scientific interpretations of near-death experiences. (Carol Zaleski; Oxford University Press, 1987)
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