by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
The important documentary film called “A Typical Heart“ is a triumph.
It’s about the deadly disparity in diagnosis, treatment and outcomes among male and female heart patients. It packs an incredible load of unforgettable facts and quotable quotes into just 22 short minutes. . Continue reading “This documentary film pulls no punches!”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
She introduced herself to me as she took her seat – although she, of course, needed NO introduction. I was utterly star-struck to realize that THE Nanette Wenger had just sat down beside me in the Mayo Clinic auditorium hosting our conference on women and heart disease. Between the onstage presentations, she chatted amiably, graciously curious about me, a heart patient/panelist on that day’s conference schedule. I asked about her early days as a female cardiologist in such a steeply male-dominated field. My take-away from that memorable autumn afternoon: when a noted medical pioneer who has been a practicing cardiologist for 70 years speaks, you listen!
Here’s what Dr. Wenger recently had to say about a Yale University study – in her no-nonsense editorial published in the cardiac journal Circulation – “Sauce for the Goose vs. Sauce for the Gander: Should Men and Women Play the Same Game But With Different Rules?” . Continue reading “When male and female heart patients play the same game, but with different rules”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
This week, three books and three bold messages about the problem with male-centric medicine: In her book Sex Matters: How Male-Centric Medicine Endangers Women’s Health, Dr. Alyson McGregor defines male-centric medicine like this: medical research and medical practice based on models historically designed to work in men, while ignoring the unique biological/emotional differences between men and women. In fact, she writes that the male-centric model of medicine is now so pervasive in health care that many of us don’t even realize it exists:
“Women who experience severe pain often have trouble convincing the doctor treating them of how serious that pain is. The more women protest and try to convince the physician, the more their behaviour is perceived as hysterical. This perception can work against them in the Emergency Department.”
If that’s where you are, Dr. McGregor warns: “the best thing you can do as a woman is to bring a man with you to explain your symptoms.” . Continue reading “Must women bring a man along to help doctors believe us?”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
For the first time in 14 years, I took a wee summer break from writing my weekly Heart Sisters posts, and started a small temporary site, The Novice Rose Gardener, in the spring of 2022 – mostly to track my new obsession/adventure: trying to grow balcony roses. I truly believed this learning experience would bring me joy ( I LOVE LOVE LOVE roses!) – but, just like in real life, I learned that it’s far more about managing expectations. My adventure can now best be described as a horticultural roller coaster! By the way, to my readers who have been asking when or if I’ll be getting back to writing those Sunday morning blog posts about women’s heart health: I’m unable to say quite yet. Meanwhile, you can find links to my list of all 900+ articles here. And for all of you who happen to love roses – or roller coasters – I’m archiving my balcony rose posts, starting here with the first essay:
My only experience with choosing and planting roses (as opposed to moving into a home that already had roses in the garden) was back in the late 90s when I read an article about an amazingly fast-growing rose called Kiftsgate. The article said: .
It’s been quite the summer, hasn’t it? For me, it’s meant spending lots of precious time with two charmers I’m madly in love with: my darling grandkids are 7-year old Everly Rose and 16-month old Baby Zack. (Grandchildren – I highly recommend them!) It’s also meant the exhaustion of trying to stay cool during our unprecedented heat waves here on the west coast (as you know, high temperatures can be brutally hard on heart patients). And it’s meant countless hours out on my little balcony, immersed in a new obsession that’s turned into a complicated late-COVID project for me: learning how to grow roses in pots. Continue reading “Balcony roses: my late summer review”
Regular Heart Sisters blog readers may have recently noticed that the Sunday morning blog posts I’ve been publishing here since 2009 have slowed down. Well, not just slowed. They’ve stopped. With spring in the air and my new balcony rose garden on my mind, I’m taking a summer break from writing about women’s hearts. Instead, I’m pulling on my gardening gloves and exploring my latest infatuation: is it possible to grow roses in pots out on a balcony?
And like many writers, the urge to document my summer adventure has turned into a little blog. It’s called The Novice Rose Gardener. For quite a while, I’ve felt the need to write about the things in life that bring me PURE JOY. In the final paragraphs of my last published blog post here, for example, I hinted that I needed a wee break to do just that. Although I’ve been an avid gardener here on the west coast for decades, I’ve never been tempted to grow roses – however lovely the photo on the rose tag may be – mostly because of their nasty reputation: high maintenance, short blooming season, black spot, powdery mildew, aphids. No thanks!
But – something wonderful happened last summer. . Continue reading “Writing about hearts – and now roses”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
February is our shortest month of the year and also the month officially acknowledged almost everywhere as Heart Health Awareness Month. Then we all turn the calendar page and glide over to March, the official month of Liver Health Awareness, Disability Awareness, Ovarian Cancer Awareness, Red Cross Awareness worldwide – and many other causes. My niggling question remains: do these assorted official days/weeks/months of awareness-raising actually help to raise awareness out there? Continue reading “Heart Month awareness: doing the same thing, yet expecting different results”
Heart Sisters 