Friday, April 16, 2021

Beginning ~ with heart failure

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It's 3 a.m. here in cardio-thoracic.  All I can 
do for now is doze, and think, and doze again.  
My heart is getting weaker, my body bluer.

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The Curious Heart of Ailsa Rae
~ by Stephanie Butland, 2018, fiction

This story is about a heart transplant patient who spent the first 28 years of her life dying while she waited to get onto the transplant list and then waiting again for a suitable heart, knowing that someone else has to die in order for her to survive.  When she gets her new, second-hand heart, she then has to learn to live — not live again, but live for the first time.  How does one live a normal life when they’ve never had a normal life?  Ailsa embarks on a journey about what it means to be alive — and to feel alive.

Her father skipped out when he learned that his newborn daughter was dying from a defective heart.  Now her ex-boyfriend is dying from liver failure due to hepatitis and is in need of a transplant to save his life.  Blog posts by Ailsa are interspersed throughout the book.  The author brings out the real issues faced by all sides — donors, recipients, families, friends, life before, and life after.


Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts

1 comment:

Literary Feline said...

This sounds like a good one, Bonnie! I imagine it will be an emotional and heartfelt read. I hope you are enjoying it. Have a great weekend!