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
“You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on!” These words are from Irish author Samuel Beckett’s 1953 novel, The Unnamable”. The late Nobel Prize winner was describing a reaction that many patients may find familiar, especially when facing the shock of a new medical diagnosis on top of your existing condition.
I wrote here about how overwhelmed I felt as a heart patient (“I can’t go on!”) with distressing new joint pain, and a diagnosis of osteoarthritis. It was too much! I simply couldn’t bear yet another painful diagnosis piled onto my already debilitating daily symptoms of a coronary microvascular disease diagnosis!
But an amazing thing happened. Continue reading ““You must go on. I can’t go on. I’ll go on. . .””
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I was invited recently to do my “Heart-Smart Women” virtual presentation to a medical school class in New York. For a heart patient like me, this was a dream invitation. I’ve spoken to thousands of people – including patients, the general public, doctors, nurses and academics- since graduating in 2008 from the WomenHeart Science & Leadership patient advocacy training at Mayo Clinic – but I’ve always known that what I really wanted to do was to reach our future doctors. Here’s why those trainees are so important to me. . Continue reading “Talking about women’s heart disease to medical students”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
This morning was a real milestone for me. For the first time in over a week, I was able to get out of bed and dress myself. Continue reading “Not-So-Happy Easter Weekend”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
In 2015, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote about virtues in his column called “The Moral Bucket List”. But he was actually writing about two different sets of virtues: our résumé virtues and our eulogy virtues.
The résumé virtues are what you do: the workplace skills you’d talk about when job-hunting. The eulogy virtues are who you are: what people will say about you at your funeral — whether you were kind, brave, generous, funny, honest, trustworthy, etc. Both types of virtues are important and worth pursuing, but as David reminds us, only eulogy virtues have lasting value and legacy. But depending on who’s doing the asking, it seems those résumé virtues appear to be far more important to certain people. . Continue reading “It’s not what you do. It’s who you are.”
Heart Sisters 