My Father's Final Journey A Heart Surgeon's Memoir

DAVID L. GALBUT, M.D. As a cardiac surgeon, I face critical illness on a daily basis, most often with the opportunity to heal. In October 2005, my father, a patriarch of one of Miami ’s oldest and most prominent families, was diagnosed with advanced metastatic pancreatic cancer. Despite my credentials as a published and internationally renowned physician, I painfully acknowledged my inability to cure my father and focused upon my role as his medical advocate and loving son. My Father’s Final Journey: A Heart Surgeon’s Memoir is illustrated through vivid scenes that present my father’s courage in battling illness and the grandeur of his life as a husband, father, Navy Captain, attorney, philanthropist, and community leader. Interwoven within the narrative are carefully placed passages that depict defining moments of my father’s role in my life. Along the way, I consider whether there is such a thing as a good death, I offer readers a glimpse into the ecstasy and agony of my profession, and I explore traditional Jewish perspectives on living and dying. My father, a Navy officer who served as a navigator in World War II, remained in the Navy Reserve until 1980, when he retired as a Captain. After the war, my father became a lawyer and developed a thriving practice in Miami Beach , where he later served as Commissioner and Vice-Mayor. In Miami Beach , his home since 1930, my father and my mother, a native of New Orleans , raised four prominent sons and created a family committed to enduring unity. I know this memoir will have wide appeal. It will interest Baby-Boomers grappling with the dual role of raising children amid the terminal illnesses of their own parents. The story is also relevant to my medical colleagues, who struggle to balance their commitment to a demanding profession and the challenge of maintaining healthy family relationships. Sincerely yours, David L. Galbut, M.D.