The Leonard Lopate Show

I had a heart transplant 1.5 years ago. My mother had a heart transplant 13 years ago and is alive and well.

I take immunosuppression drugs, visit the doctor every 3 months or more frequently, go through heart catheterizations every year, endure complications and worry about bone loss and kidney damage, etc. But I do not feel sick. I feel that I am well now. BEFORE I got the transplant I was very sick for 20 years. Now, I feel I am cured, for however long it may last.

I think for people who had to endure heart disease for many years before transplantation, and older people who feel they are getting a second lease on life, heart transplantation is a miracle that makes you feel well. For some people who felt they were normal before transplantation, they feel sick afterwards.

I worry that this message about "sickness" will discourage some people from organ donation. Transplantation works, and for many of us, we feel fine -- a million times better than before transplantation, and very happy and grateful that we are not dead!

Sincerley,

Shannon Kelly

914-968-8528

This society has always been hard on any deviation from the norm-- any weakness, illness, injury, emotional distress-- and out of synch with natural healing processes. We are given only so much sick leave, maternity leave, bereavement leave-- then we have to "get with it." Now we have to "get with it" without any health care. Why have we created such a harsh society?

I've been struggling with Bipolar Disorder for 10 years (and I'm still very young). My family and some friends know my diagnosis, but still have no understanding/forgiveness/sympathy for me when I reach my manic peaks and my most depressed lows. I find there's a LOT of misunderstanding about this type of disorder and it makes it difficult sometimes. I feel I'm doing pretty well with it overall, but to be judged as a "flighty spaz" or "lazy bum" if I'm caught at the wrong moment is so frustrating... as if I could choose to be otherwise! Hopefully public awareness will increase as the years go on...

I relate very well to Amy Silverstein's experiences as a person with an 'invisible' disability, as I was diagnosed with lupus in 1998. Few people are aware of it, but lupus, depression and anxiety go hand-in-hand. Until I learned to self-advocate, many of my (former) friends and professional contacts assumed I was 'crazy or lazy'. Unfortunately, 9 of 10 people who have lupus are women, so the medical research into this disease is vastly inadequate. It's considered a 'woman's' disease!

Our obsession with youth and physical perfection in American society only add to the misery--and stigma--for the untold numbers of people in this country with such invisible disabilities, including Amy's heart condition.

My heart goes out to her.

Sincerely,

Westerly A. Donohue (Ms.)

Ph.D. Student

Sociology Department

New School for Social Research

79 5th Avenue, 9th fl.

New York, NY 10003

this woman was a heart transplant patient 17 yrs ago - does she still qualify as a "patient"? hasn't she recovered? it's not like being an alcoholic...

What is up with all Lisa Birnback's "no loud noises for you," and "I'm afraid to get you excited" comments? How tasteless is that kind of humor? How tactless, too, with regard to her guest?

With regard to "tactlessness":

I think the host's intentions were misunderstood. I read an excerpt of Sick Girl in "The Week" magazine a little while back in which she talks about the disconnect between her brain and her heart's reaction times.

What she said in her book was something along the lines of if she was startled, her brain/body would have a normal reaction within a normal time frame. Her heart however would get the message much later and begin pounding at an excessive rate, well after the rest of her body had processed the experience.

The way she described it made it seem very uncomfortable and disconcerting and I think the host was probably very conscious of not wanting to cause Ms. Silverstein any unnecessary discomfort.

I bought this book after hearing this interview. It's incredibly negative and I have to put it down. My own life is too short to read this dribble. This writer needs to learn many things, including how to be grateful for her "gift of life" instead of blaming everyone around her and throwing red in the face temper tantrums for 300 pages. Amy is not able to move beyond her physical crisis and the medical requirements placed on her after her surgery. She was physically sick before her life-saving surgery, and emotionally and psychologically, she remains a sick girl all these years later. I suggest reading Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox.

I read this book and I too had to stop reading it. The subtitle suggested a book by a positive person who 'refused to give up on life' and all I got was a girl with tantrums who wanted to commit suicide. I felt she let herself down, especially as she usually stopped her inappropriate behaviour in front of those who she would feel embarrassed to see her that way.