240 Beats per Minute

October 1, 2018
As biologist Witholt began his 15-year struggle with recurrent ventricular tachycardia in 1999, he began recording his experience in scientific terms; this book represents that record, combined with thoughtful italicized commentary from his lifelong friend, physician Mills (Nesiritide: The Rise and Fall of Scios). Witholt first knew something was wrong when his pulse rate shot up to 240 beats per minute. He initially resisted the common treatment, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD, which has the unpleasant effect of delivering “a shock... directly inside your heart,” but eventually acquiesced in early 2000. Happily, as Witholt became accustomed to the ICD, he was able to return to his beloved pursuit of rowing. Mills, also a rower, affectionately echoes and emphasizes his friend’s paeans to the sport: “Bernie’s almost lyric description of his Saturday mornings went far beyond science; he loved life.” However, Mills also shares frustrations with how reluctant his friend could be to seek necessary medical care, recalling, “I was his friend, not his physician.... I find it an impossible situation.” Culminating in Witholt’s death due to pancreatic cancer in 2015, this book serves as an endearing elegy from a devoted friend and, fittingly, includes three of Witholt’s essays, intended to illustrate his devotion and love for teaching.