Pill splitting: which ones are safe to divide?

December 4, 2016April 20, 2022 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 30 Comments

pills-1173656_1280 Physicians and other prescribers are often frustrated by their non-compliant patients. (Full disclosure: as I’ve written about here and here, for example, even the word non-compliant makes me cranky, as it sounds so much like it has punishment at the end of it). These frustrating patients are generally described as those who are not following doctor’s orders (there’s another patronizing term for you) or more specifically, are not taking the medications prescribed for them.

A Consumer Reports Health prescription drugs survey reported that many people are splitting their pills in half to save money on high-priced prescription drugs. The bad news, however, is that many have also learned to save even more money by taking half-doses of half-a-pill every other day. Continue reading “Pill splitting: which ones are safe to divide?” →

16 minutes that will change how you look at the “soul-crushing reality” of healthcare

November 27, 2016August 30, 2020 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 8 Comments

Mayo Clinic's Dr. Victor Montori at TEDx Zumbro River — *Mayo Clinic’s Dr. Victor Montori*

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

I felt like weeping with joy and hope by the end of this TEDx talk by Mayo Clinic’s visionary physician, Dr. Victor Montori. It’s about healing healthcare with kindness and caring. This is nothing less than a patient revolution to address what he calls the “soul-crushing reality of a healthcare industry that has corrupted its own mission.” Continue reading “16 minutes that will change how you look at the “soul-crushing reality” of healthcare” →

Cathy’s stroke: “Nobody noticed my husband”

November 20, 2016November 19, 2016 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

Guest post by Cathy Aumack-Bandy *

We all know someone who has had a stroke. For many, it’s a friend. For some, a relative. A spouse? A partner? A parent? Maybe even a child.

Stroke is one of those events that most people fear – and rightly so. Maybe it’s because so many times, it seems to come out of nowhere. It strikes a person down without warning. And, once it makes an appearance, stroke shows no mercy. It leaves much in its ruin. It changes people. It changes lives forever – and that’s even in the best case scenario. Continue reading “Cathy’s stroke: “Nobody noticed my husband”” →

“Can’t go to my support group meeting because my husband’s expecting dinner”

November 13, 2016November 28, 2019 ~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters

screen-shot-2016-11-09-at-1-45-37-pm I opened an email recently from one of my Mayo heart sisters. She had dropped me a note because she was concerned about a woman (a recent heart attack survivor) who had told her she really wanted to attend their community’s next support group meeting for women living with heart disease (this one was a monthly meeting held from 3-4:30 p.m.). But this woman claimed that she couldn’t go to the meeting – because she “had to be home to cook dinner for her husband.” Although her hubby was retired and at home all day long, the heart attack survivor explained that “he expects to have dinner ready at the regular time that I have had it for him all the years he was working.”