http://www.aarp.org/ Read More

This bi-monthly publication is for and about Caregivers.

http://www.caregiver.com/ Read More

My poem has been included in this year’s Redwood Writers Anthology. I wrote it in my journal as I sat next to Blake’s hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit after Mitral Valve Repair Surgery.

Purchase The Sound of a Thousand Leaves at: http://redwoodwriters.org/publications-products/

HEARTFELT

Thirty-seven years
married for better or worse.
Two loving hearts
nestled in a world
of their own creation.

One heart, too big,
stopped,
faulted.
One heart, not big enough.

Lost love.
With offbeat Read More

The day has arrived! Heartfelt is published and available on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Heartfelt-Caregivers-Cardiomyopathy-Mitral-Surgery/dp/146375311X

Order your copy today! Read More

Watch for the Mid-August release of Heartfelt: A Caregiver’s Guide to Cardiomyopathy and Mitral Valve Surgery.

Media Design Publishing www.mediadesignpublishing.com is putting the finishing touches on my manuscript this week. We’re publishing the CreateSpace way.

How to Self-Publish Your Book the CreateSpace Way

Heartfelt chronicles sixteen years of my life with my husband Blake as we struggle through his first major arrhythmia, to mitral-valve repair surgery, and onto recovery. Through 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 Read More

Before we chose, Dr. Gaudiani and his surgical team, we had heard of Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City. One Friday afternoon as I lingered outside the Community Church in Sebastopol, I chatted with friends of my memoir writing group.

“So, Elaine, how’s Blake?” Chuck asked concerned. He knew how, a week earlier, I found my husband wobbling and bleeding at the kitchen counter. 

“Well, it appears that we’re looking at surgery. We’ve put it off for twelve years, but the last episode told us, it’s time,” I said. 

I pulled my jacket collar up to block the wind as Steve; the class instructor approached the group. He gave me a slight hug from the side and I thought about how he looked more like a trail blazer than an English teacher. The cold weather had forced him to trade in hiking shorts for jeans—the all-terrain running shoes were a constant. 

“Sure is cold out here today,” he said with slight teeth chatter. “How’s Read More

I’m revising Chapter Two and I decided that this tidbit scene shows why Blake and I have been married so long. We are the ultimate partners in crime.

Asien’s Appliance in downtown Santa Rosa is a kitchen Mecca. We spent a Saturday afternoon comparing basic gas ranges to the gorgeous stainless-steel professional models. We turned knobs, glided oven shelves in and out, read brochures, considered energy efficiency, but always returned to the same model, a 30-inch-wide, DCS five-burner wonder.

“I love this one, but it’s so expensive,” I said to Blake for the fifth time.  

“My favorite, too,” Blake agreed. “So, how do we rationalize the cost?” 

“Hmm, how ‘bout this? We’ve been married thirty years, we’ve never bought a new stove before, we’re both going to use it to make you healthier, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Oh, and did I tell you? . . . I love you.” 

The stove was Read More

I sent this e-mail January 14, 2011 to friends and family as I let out a huge sigh of relief.
This morning around 8:00, I gave Blake a kiss and watched as the surgical nurse wheeled him through swinging doors to the operating room.   The long three week wait, now over, felt too soon. I looked at my feet and commanded them to move along the corridor to the ICU waiting room—it would be awhile.

I settled into a chair near an electrical socket, so I could plug in my laptop.  The same technology that Blake adores, allows me to bring all of you with me, on this medical adventure—nothing short of a miracle, really.  Not too many years ago, I would have been widowed too young. Today, I wait as one of the best cardio-vascular surgeons in the world performs what he considers a routine operation.  Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City is a top rated facility that prepares and informs both patient and family for the day and the weeks to come. By the end of Read More

I sent e-mails to friends and family as Blake and I moved through our medical miracle. Here’s the first in the series.

Hi all,

Here’s the first APB.

We just finished our preliminary meet and greets with hospital admissions, Mended Hearts (a heart patient advocacy non-profit), and Dr. Gaudiani’s (surgeon) office. Blake’s been poked and prodded for the last time before surgery and we have a pretty good idea of what to expect.  What makes Blake different (among other things) is that he went into cardiac arrest the night he hit his head and even though he’s on an anti-arrhythmia drug, he had another episode last Wednesday.  Still, optimism is high and we’re assured that we are in the best of care. Even the health advocate told us that Dr. Gaudiani and his team are considered some of the best in the world and international patients are common.  

Are we nervous? You bet. The ICU will be the most stressful. Blake will be “tubed Read More