by Kathy E. Magliato, MD

c.2010, Broadway Books • $24.00 / $29.95 Canada • 272 pages

 

When the "Check Engine" light appeared on your dashboard, your first instinct was to panic. But the car was running fine, right? No problem, so you drove around for another week, ignoring the warning signs. The resulting mechanic's bill cost you big.

 

When the pain stomped across your chest and shoulder, you panicked, then convinced yourself that everything's fine, no problem. But humans don't come with "Check Engine" lights and ignoring that warning could cost your life. In the new book Healing Hearts: A Memoir of a Female Heart Surgeon by Kathy E. Magliato, MD, you'll read about the greatest engines of all and a woman who fixes them.

 

Growing up as the second-oldest child in a German-Italian family in New York, Kathy Magliato knew the meaning of hard work. Her father's paycheck didn't stretch far enough, so Magliato and her siblings did odd jobs in the mornings, evenings, and all weekend throughout most of high school. Those jobs, meant to make ends meet, instilled a certain work ethic in Magliato.

 

The first time she held a human heart, she was a medical student. A cardiac surgeon asked for Magliato's help during an emergency and when she put her hand around the beating organ, she was instantly awestruck. In that moment, she knew what her specialty would be.

 

In this book, Magliato writes about her career and the difficulties and joys of being a female cardiac surgeon. Without complaining, she explains what it's like to work 24/7 and raise a family, too. And she writes about her most memorable cases: the people she saved and the ones she lost.

 

And I loved every paragraph of it.

 

With self-assured conviction, a wicked sense of humor, and wry observations, author Kathy E. Magliato, MD, takes her readers from a farm in New York to Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and California on a journey that she says fewer and fewer women choose to take, often (surprise) because of the low pay.

 

Along the way, Magliato gives her readers a real-life peek inside EDs, ORs, and human bodies as she reminds us that heart disease is the number one killer of women.

 

For doctors, future doctors, and anyone with a heart, Healing Hearts is a book to check.

 

 

by Beth Whitehouse

 

What if your baby had a chance to make a difference even before birth? In The Match by Beth Whitehouse, you'll read about one couple's controversial pregnancy and the very unique outcome.

 

When Katie was born, the Trebings were overjoyed, but that joy quickly turned to alarm. The baby struggled to breathe and she needed oxygen and a blood transfusion. Little Katie was not even 24 hours old.

 

Though she seemed to be getting better, a diagnosis was made soon after the Trebings brought their daughter home: Katie had Diamond Blackfan anemia. Her bone marrow wasn't making enough red blood cells, and without monthly transfusions and other medicines–both of which would eventually cause devastating side effects–Katie would die. Her best hope was for a sibling bone marrow donor, but Katie's older brother was not a match.

 

Because they were not averse to having another child, the Trebings began to explore something controversial. They knew they'd love a new baby no matter what but, with medical intervention, the new child could save Katie's life. To boost the chances of such an outcome, the couple went through in vitro fertilization after several embryos were screened to ensure marker compatibility.

 

Christopher Trebing was born in May, 2005, and was perfect in more ways than one. Doctors saved his cord blood in the hopes that, when the time was right, it would cure Katie of her disease but it wasn't enough. So, for the next several months, Stacy and Steve Trebing became their daughter's best advocate, battling insurance companies, disbelieving strangers, nay-sayers, and time.

 

Want to start an argument? Pick up The Match: it can do that.

 

Aside from presenting the story of parents who do everything possible (and seemingly impossible) to save their child, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Beth Whitehouse also carefully writes about options, controversies, outrages, and moral questions that arise when embryos are specifically selected and "savior siblings" are born for reasons other than that their parents want to have a baby. Though The Match felt occasionally choppy and sometimes biased, I think it's a can't-miss for parents, particularly those tackling this very subject.