This Sunday, Oprah is talking to one of her personal heroes, Elie Wiesel, about his thoughts on love, regret and faith after having open-heart surgery. He has also chronicled his reflections on life after that surgery in his new memoir, Open Heart. Read an excerpt today, then tune in Sunday at 11 a.m. ET/PT to watch Oprah and Elie's complete conversation on air or online.

June 16, 2011

"It's your heart," says the gastroenterologist after performing an endoscopy on me.

I am surprised: "Not my stomach?"

For some time now, acid reflux has been one of my nightmares. My longtime general practitioner also feels it has contributed to the various health problems that have afflicted me for the past several years.

My wife, Marion, and I have just returned from Jerusalem, where, every year, we spend the holiday of Shavuot with close friends. In keeping with the tradition to which I have remained faithful, friends and I spent the night in a yeshiva in the Old City studying biblical and Talmudic laws and commentaries dating from the Middle Ages.

This time, in Jerusalem, it had all gone well. No terrorist attacks. No border incidents. Even my cursed migraines seemed to respect the sanctity of this night, of this city unlike any other. But now, back in New York, suddenly my body revolts. The new piercing pain in my shoulders rises all the way to my jaw. I swallow a double dose of Nexium, the medicine I take for acid reflux. This time without success.

"No, neither the stomach nor the esophagus," replies the doctor after a moment of silence. "It's certainly the heart." Ominous words, inducing fear and the promise of more pain. Or worse.

Keep reading >>