On Having a Heart Attack

Download or read book On Having a Heart Attack written by William O'Rourke and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: That was October 26, 1991, in what became a singularly awful day inthe life of William O'Rourke. Minutes later, at the beginning of a NotreDame football game, he began to suffer his heart attack. O'Rourke'saccount of that day, and everything that followed, is personal, informative, humorous, and highly literate. With its extendeddescription of what an MI feels like and how people around the patientreact, his memoir provides a bedside view of his experience and all ofthe emotions - both extraordinary and quotidian - that accompanied it.What is startling is how that momentous event, the heart attack, divides life irretrievably into a before and after. Gone are theassumptions of what is safe and healthy; replacing them is anewly-forged relation of mind and body, a treacherous one whichbreeds a physical paranoia that only lessens after month