Whether you are facing open-heart surgery recovery, heart bypass surgery recovery, or heart valve surgery recovery, this book is for you.

BOOK'S BIGGEST BENEFITS:

• Focus is on managing home recovery
  
  
• Sixty-five heart patients and caregivers interviewed
  
  
• Five steps for maximizing home team support
  
  
• Twelve tips to relieve intermittent depression
  
  
• Prepare, become empowered, reduce stress, before and after the surgery date
  
  

Paperback or E-Book: $20.00
             
          

"This passionate and personal guide will help you both survive and thrive after open-heart surgery."

— Mehmet C. Oz, MD
Vice Chairman, Cardiovascular Services, Department of Surgery
Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY

"The Open Heart Companion is a superb accomplishment and a very practical guide for patients requiring heart surgery.  It is extremely well organized and very informative."

— Joseph A. Dearani, MD
Cardiothoracic Surgeon,
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

"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."

— Marianne J. Legato, MD, author of The Female Heart

"Where this book excels — and many hospitals fail — is in sharing insight on . . . the transtition from hospital to home and how to best manage the four to eight-week period of home recovery. Highly recommended."

— Library Journal, Howard Fuller, Stanford Health Library, Palo Alto, CA

1. Patient perspective: What are the most important challenges I may face once home? What does the hospital discharge staff not tell you?

2. Primary caregiver: What are the most important challenges I may face when I bring my loved one home?

3. Both patient and caregiver: How can we best arrange for family and friends to support us during the home recovery period?

4. We've heard that open-heart patients often encounter depression.  What can be done about that?

5. How important is a second opinion?

6. What are the benefits of a cardiac rehabilitation program?

I'm Maggie Lichtenberg, a recent open-heart patient and Open Heart Coach. I decided the following FACTS had to change.

FACT: Every year in the US alone, more than 700,000 open-heart patients (current AHA figures) plod through an arduous convalescence.

FACT: Very seldom are heart patients told what to really expect during the stressful open-heart surgery recovery period of 8-12 weeks.

FACT: Far too many open-heart patients and primary caregivers don't proactively plan ahead for this very challenging time.

  Maggie Lichtenberg
  Open Heart Coach & 
  Publishing Consultant

After dozens of interviews with heart patients, their caregivers, and medical professionals, plus weaving in my own personal story, I wrote and published
The Open Heart Companion: Preparation and Guidance for Open-Heart Surgery Recovery to reinforce the wisdom that knowledge is power, and that knowing what to expect during open-heart surgery recovery — whether bypass or valve — makes the process so much easier.