Elaine Webster

Heartfelt: Caregiver's Guide to Cardiomyopathy and Mitral Valve Surgery Elaine Webster

Publisher Marketing: The past twenty years have seen major advances in open-heart surgery. What was once considered a death sentence is now often curable. This is especially true with valve-repair and replacement surgeries. As caregiver for a heart patient, you face unique challenges. You must be friend, confidant, patient advocate, spiritual advisor, and nurse to your patient, all the while trying to keep your own life together. Heartfelt chronicles sixteen years of the author's life with her husband Blake as they struggle through his first major arrhythmia, to mitral-valve repair surgery, and onto recovery. Through Webster's personal insights and common-sense advice, you'll learn how to: Take Care of Your Patient: Find the right medical team, Research hospitals, Track down affordable health insurance, Establish an exercise program, Provide nursing care, Weigh medical options, Manage medications, Cook heart-healthy cuisine and handle dietary restrictions, Provide emotional support, Oversee recovery after surgery. Take Care of Yourself: Keep a journal, Enlist help, Handle stress, Exercise, Deal with depression, Maintain routines, Make time for yourself, Seek creative outlets, Eat healthy, Find a spiritual path. Contributor Bio:  Webster, Elaine Elaine Webster writes fiction, non-fiction, memoir, essays and poetry. Balanced on the Edge of the Crowd employs the same memoir-style writing as the author's non-fiction works: Jesse's Tale: Overcoming Fear Aggression and Separation Anxiety in an Adopted Greyhound and Heartfelt: Caregiver's Guide to Cardiomyopathy and Mitral Valve Surgery. Both titles were self-published in 2010 and 2011 and continue to be at the top of their categories in Amazon.com. As a journalist and staff writer for the online publication, Greener Living Today, Elaine specializes in green-product, book and movie reviews.