Our Human Hearts : A Medical and Cultural Journey

by Carter, Albert Howard, III

• ISBN13: 9780873388634
• ISBN10: 0873388631
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-30
• Publisher: Kent State Univ Pr

Summary

Our Human Hearts is a nonfiction exploration of the meanings of the human heart as interpreted by two traditions: medical science, which has made possible dramatic cardiac surgery and sophisticated drug treatments, and the much older cultural traditions that view the heart as a repository for wisdom, courage, emotion, and the soul. Carter interlaces medical and linguistic information with the stories of four heart patients, each with different illnesses and different personal approaches to healing. Much has been written about the heart from a medical standpoint, but few experts have explored the human side of the heart by giving a voice to the patients. Our Human Hearts will be appreciated by the medical community, cardiology patients and their families, and anyone interested in the meaning and health of the human heart.

Author Biography

Albert Howard Carter III is adjunct professor of social medicine at the School of Medicine, University of North Carolina

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Haunted by Hearts	1	(10)
The Workings of Michael's Heart	11	(73)
Cardiac Structure, Cardiac Function	11	(2)
Off and on the Carousel	13	(8)
Sterilized Homografts and Other Wholehearted Expressions	21	(1)
Cardiac Holy Grails	22	(4)
Essence, Center	26	(1)
Medicine and the Heart	27	(7)
Which Is Deeper, Knowledge or Wisdom?	34	(1)
The Pump	35	(6)
Corporeal Dynamics: Humans, Lobsters, Bears	41	(6)
Looking into the Heart	47	(3)
Tasting Heart	50	(3)
Valve Job at the Valve Shop	53	(9)
Why Is the Pumpkin Laughing? Heartfelt Words of Emotion	62	(2)
Walking Quietly	64	(6)
The Most Positive Attitude Going In	70	(2)
Words of Love	72	(1)
On to Mt. Kilimanjaro and More	73	(11)
Coming to Terms with the Heart (First Essay)	75	(9)
Kay's Chronically Sick Heart and Her Life with Many, Many Pills	84	(36)
Chronic Illness...Stories of the Long Run	84	(2)
Kay, the Dream-robber of Her Heart, and the Angel of Yoga	86	(4)
The Sprinkler System at the VA Hospital	90	(5)
Beyond the Pump and Sprinkler System	95	(5)
Hearts in Literature	100	(7)
Riding the Wild Animal of the Heart; or, Busting Broncos and the Nasty Pill Tray	107	(13)
Qualities of Time, Qualities of Mind (Second Essay)	113	(7)
Steve's Angina Pectoris and Change of Stories	120	(34)
Among the People	120	(2)
A Strangling of the Chest	122	(2)
Mrs. Sanders Dies in the ER	124	(4)
"Living Right Could Put Me Out of Business": Stress Playshop	128	(6)
What Stories Do We Live? What Habits of the Heart?	134	(6)
Yellowstone	140	(4)
Enjoying Chaos More	144	(10)
Solid Footing, Higher Ground (Third Essay)	147	(7)
Johnnie and Zelma Reddick and the Heart's Reasons	154	(38)
Images and the Ineffable	154	(1)
Skip Something...She Raises Hell	155	(3)
Valentines, Fencers, Cards: Cardiac Imagery	158	(5)
Religion and the Heart	163	(3)
George's Gut Perforates, Is Prayed Over	166	(5)
I Go to the Hospital with Crushing Chest Pain	171	(4)
Taking Food to Heart	175	(6)
Do You Like Mangoes?	181	(11)
Feeding our Hearts (Fourth Essay)	183	(9)
Our Human Hearts	192	(12)
Index	204