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The Parent's Guide to Children's Congenital Heart Defects
What They Are, How to Treat Them, How to Cope With Them
by Gerri Freid Kramer, Shari Maurer
List Price: 14.00


Paperback: 265 pages
Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 (November 20 2001)
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Read an Excerpt

The Diagnosis
If you have a child with a congenital heart defect (CHD), you have a million questions: How did this happen? What kind of surgery is best? What's life going to be like for my child after surgery?

Common Congenital Heart Defects
Definition/anatomy: A VSD is a hole or opening between the right and the left ventricles. It may be very small, in which case surgery isn't necessary. The majority of these VSDs become smaller or even close on their own.

Surgery
Timing of the surgery in the case of pediatric congenital heart defects is an important question. There are circumstances when surgery would be proposed even if the child has no symptoms.



Book Description

If you have a child with a congenital heart defect (CHD), you have a million questions: How did this happen? What kind of surgery is best? What's life going to be like for my child after surgery? Will problems crop up later? Will the crisis ever end? In The Parent's Guide to Children's Congenital Heart Defects, more than thirty leading experts in pediatric cardiology - cardiologists, surgeons, nurses, nutritionists, counselors, and social workers - give detailed answers in plain language to help you learn to live with your child's CHD.

Written by two parents of children with CHD in an easy-to-follow question-and-answer format, this guide brims with the latest information on diagnosis, treatment options, surgery, aftercare, and growing up with CHD, along with the voices of dozens of other parents who have lived through CHD and know what you're going through. In these pages, you'll find the information, empathy, and support you need to care for your child and thrive together.

About the Author

Gerri Freid Kramer

Gerri Freid Kramer is the mother of Max, age 6, who was born with CHD..

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Shari Maurer

Shari Maurer is the mother of Elisabeth, age 7, who also has CHD..

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