Life on Loan: Stories of a Resuscitation Doctor about People Who Got a Second Chance

• The book is written by a practicing pulmonologist and resuscitation doctor who has been working for many years with critically ill patients and is very familiar with the problems discussed in the book.
• Surviving a complicated operation, an organ... transplant, or intense medical therapy is only half the battle. The most challenging part begins when it’s time to adapt to new living conditions. How do people behave when adjusting to new, often difficult, circumstances of existence?
• It is sometimes difficult to respect and accept a patient’s choice, whatever it may be. How to "let go" of someone whose life you have fought for so long, using all your skill? Where is the line between saving a life and prolonging suffering? The author sincerely answers these difficult questions.

About
Modern medicine helps to save the most complicated and hopeless patients. But what awaits them afterward? Is the forever changed life worth the torment they have already endured and may continue to endure until the end of their days? What is it like to live in full awareness while on a life support machine? Or with the understanding that your life completely depends on a small device in your chest? How not to despair for relatives and friends if a beloved and close person is seriously ill? Where to find patience, optimism, and strength to provide support? There are many questions.
Daniela Lamas, a pulmonologist and resuscitation doctor, helps patients and their relatives navigate this difficult period in her book and suggests figuring out where the boundary lies between saving and prolonging suffering. Under this cover are deep personal stories: about difficulties and mutual assistance, about pain and hope.
The author tells warmly, with compassion and medical precision, about what each of us may face.
Why Read
Modern medicine saves patients from death whom, 10 years ago, could only be helped by a miracle. What to do if the waiting for life-saving procedures (like organ transplants) is postponed indefinitely - grit your teeth and wait or give up? What to do if prolonged treatment turns into endless torment - endure in hope for improvement or give up on all the efforts of the doctors? The author of the book writes that the life of a saved person often changes forever. This applies to both their mental and physical state. How to accept these changes and learn to "live again"? How should a doctor act who genuinely cares about their patients? How should the relatives of a patient suffering from a severe illness behave? The author shares with great warmth, empathy, and medical precision about what each of us may encounter.
For Whom
For a wide audience.