Entries for October 2007

Yesterday a lengthy sampling of readers' E-mails appeared in this space. They came from members of the transplant community—transplant patients or someone whose child, significant other, or parent has received a transplant. The E-mails followed my September 21 post about Amy Silverstein and Sick Girl, her new book about the harsher realities of post-transplant life as someone who has lived with a donor heart for 17 years. (An excerpt from the book appears in this week's issue of U.S. News and is also posted on our website.) Considering the personal stake in an emotional topic grounded in deaths that save lives, it isn't surprising that most of the writers were puzzled, sad, or angry. A few worried that the book might put off someone who might otherwise have signed a donor card. Silverstein took up my offer to respond to those who wrote. Her reply appears below. —Avery Comarow

I promised to dip into the small flood of E-mails that washed up after last month's post about transplant patient Amy Silverstein, who received a donor heart when she was 25 years old, and Sick Girl, her new book that takes her to the present, 19 years later. It paints a picture of life after a heart transplant that is more complicated and darker than most other organ recipients, even if they felt the same, would care to reveal in public. Excerpts from the book are posted on our website.

The two items on the agenda for today have nothing in common except that both fall under the vast umbrella of safety and quality—safety for the first one, quality for the second.

Safety first. (I couldn't resist.) The medical community has been begging, nagging, and haranguing the public to keep a current list of medications in a wallet or a comparably accessible place. Without such a list, if you wind up unconscious in an emergency room and no one with you knows your medical history, the ER doctors will be flying blind. You don't want that to happen, especially if you're taking a blood thinner or other medication that could put you at risk if other drugs are administered.