ABSTRACT
In the introduction to The Healing Heart (Cousins, 1983), Dr Bernard Lown describes a seriously ill patient. He had suffered a heart attack which had severely damaged the cardiac muscle; he was experiencing chaotic arrhythmia that was hard to control and his breathing was laboured. The patient was being kept alive with oxygen and an intravenous drip of cardiac stimulant. On one of his rounds, Dr Lown mentioned to the attending staff that the patient’s heart had a ‘wholesome, very loud third sound gallop’. This condition indicates that the heart is straining and is on the brink of a failure. However, following this conversation the patient ‘miraculously’ improved and was discharged from the hospital. When asked by Dr Lown about his recovery, he responded:
I was sure the end was near and you and your staff had given up hope. However, Thursday morning when you entered with your troops, something happened that changed everything. You listened to my heart; you seemed pleased by the findings and announced to all those standing about my bed that I had a wholesome gallop. I knew that the doctors, in talking to me, might try to soften things. But I know they wouldn’t kid each other. So when I heard you tell your colleagues I had a wholesome gallop, I figured I still had a lot of ‘kick’ to my heart and could not be dying. My spirits were, for the first time, lifted and I knew I would recover.
