The Next Breath
New Life After Near Death
Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Medical, Specialties, Pulmonary & Thoracic, Health, Healing, Biography & Memoir
| Author: | Joseph Fisher | ISBN: | 9780990567899 |
| Publisher: | Joe Fisher Books | Publication: | February 10, 2015 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | Joseph Fisher |
| ISBN: | 9780990567899 |
| Publisher: | Joe Fisher Books |
| Publication: | February 10, 2015 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
THE NEXT BREATH: New Life After Near Death
Every year millions of people suffer acute medical emergencies that nearly take their lives. Millions more have accidents that bring them, without warning, to the edge of existence. Whatever the cause these people share a common task – to rebuild their lives after having faced their own mortality in an unprepared moment. I am one of these people. If you are reading this, odds are you are too or have a love one who is. I wrote this book for you.
MY EXPERIENCE
What is it like to be suddenly, catastrophically on the verge of death? I found out one morning when I was struck by a massive pulmonary embolism while walking. In the span of a single stride I went from being a healthy 63 year old to a person on the edge of death – gasping for breath – my life suspended by a thin thread of chance.
MAJOR THEMES
Three themes run throughout The Next Breath; they are:
The Healing Journey - the stages of the recovery process are identified and described, e.g., PTSD, victimization, spiritual searching, winnowing, as are the emotions, such as denial, anger, depression, angst, fear.
Medical Decision-Making – the not always constructive interplay between the peculiarities of how contemporary medicine is practiced and patients’ psychological and therapeutic needs in times of crisis.
Fate – how chance dictates the course of our lives and how reacting to, perhaps accepting, the undirected nature of existence can affect the recovery and adjustment to a life-threatening event. T
WHERE THE NEXT BREATH FITS
The Next Breath offers a new perspective on the Near Death Experience (NDE) and Death and Dying literatures. Like Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven the point of departure is a sudden, near fatal illness. However it is not another NDE story – I did not have one. I also have no religious axe to grind. Instead I had what might more aptly be called a Sudden Life Experience and the book focuses on the profound self-examination it initiated.
While The Next Breath takes inspiration from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s work On Death and Dying and the stages of grief navigated by the terminally ill she identified, this book centers on the stages of recovery and rebuilding a life. It is a story of life and living vs. death and dying, therefore, of coming to terms with the possibilities of the future as opposed to the permanence of the past.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With a doctorate in Sociology (Tufts University) and a Master of Public Health degree (Harvard University) Joe Fisher speaks to the topic of the consequences of life-threatening medical emergencies from a professional as well as personal perspective.
As the author of five books, as many book chapters and over 20 peer reviewed articles, Joe’s work has received praise from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The Miami Herald and the New England Journal of Medicine among others.
THE NEXT BREATH: New Life After Near Death
Every year millions of people suffer acute medical emergencies that nearly take their lives. Millions more have accidents that bring them, without warning, to the edge of existence. Whatever the cause these people share a common task – to rebuild their lives after having faced their own mortality in an unprepared moment. I am one of these people. If you are reading this, odds are you are too or have a love one who is. I wrote this book for you.
MY EXPERIENCE
What is it like to be suddenly, catastrophically on the verge of death? I found out one morning when I was struck by a massive pulmonary embolism while walking. In the span of a single stride I went from being a healthy 63 year old to a person on the edge of death – gasping for breath – my life suspended by a thin thread of chance.
MAJOR THEMES
Three themes run throughout The Next Breath; they are:
The Healing Journey - the stages of the recovery process are identified and described, e.g., PTSD, victimization, spiritual searching, winnowing, as are the emotions, such as denial, anger, depression, angst, fear.
Medical Decision-Making – the not always constructive interplay between the peculiarities of how contemporary medicine is practiced and patients’ psychological and therapeutic needs in times of crisis.
Fate – how chance dictates the course of our lives and how reacting to, perhaps accepting, the undirected nature of existence can affect the recovery and adjustment to a life-threatening event. T
WHERE THE NEXT BREATH FITS
The Next Breath offers a new perspective on the Near Death Experience (NDE) and Death and Dying literatures. Like Eben Alexander’s Proof of Heaven the point of departure is a sudden, near fatal illness. However it is not another NDE story – I did not have one. I also have no religious axe to grind. Instead I had what might more aptly be called a Sudden Life Experience and the book focuses on the profound self-examination it initiated.
While The Next Breath takes inspiration from Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s work On Death and Dying and the stages of grief navigated by the terminally ill she identified, this book centers on the stages of recovery and rebuilding a life. It is a story of life and living vs. death and dying, therefore, of coming to terms with the possibilities of the future as opposed to the permanence of the past.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With a doctorate in Sociology (Tufts University) and a Master of Public Health degree (Harvard University) Joe Fisher speaks to the topic of the consequences of life-threatening medical emergencies from a professional as well as personal perspective.
As the author of five books, as many book chapters and over 20 peer reviewed articles, Joe’s work has received praise from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, The Miami Herald and the New England Journal of Medicine among others.
