What Broke My Father’s Heart
How putting in a pacemaker wrecked a family’s life. When (the doctor) suggested the pacemaker for the second time, my father was too stroke-damaged to discuss, and perhaps even to weigh, his tradeoffs. The decision fell to my mother — anxious to relieve my father’s pain, exhausted with caregiving, deferential to doctors and no expert on high-tech medicine. She said yes. One of the most important medical decisions of my father’s life was over in minutes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/magazine/20pacemaker-t.html
Bypass Brain – How Surgery May Affect Mental Acuity
Bypass Brain – How Surgery May Affect Mental Acuity – Also dubbed “Pump Heads”, people who had bypass heart surgery report changes in their ability to concentrate, emotional instability, short term memory lapses or slowed responses. While warnings are few, what caused the need for the bypass may have also effected the brain.
