Author: Carolyn Thomas

Be your own hero during a heart attack

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 12 Comments

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by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Today, I’m happy to share with you the story of an unusual milestone in life that you may not be familiar with unless you, too, are a heart patient: it’s the Heart-iversary celebration that marks another year since the day you survived a cardiac event. 

My own Heart-iversary is coming up on May 6th, but just recently Laura Haywood-Cory wrote about celebrating the seven year milestone since she survived a heart attack caused by a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD).  With Laura’s permission, I’m running her reflections here on this celebration: Continue reading “Be your own hero during a heart attack” →

What’s all that sighing, moaning and groaning about?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 23 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

blue eye abstractWhen I first saw exhaustion described as the “leaky emotion of chronic illness“, it reminded me of something else. (This happens to me a lot, by the way, a fizzy stream of consciousness that bubbles ideas around my cranium like pinballs until one finally settles in with a *plink*).  The plink this time was that, along with the chest pain, exhaustion and the damned relentlessness that can so often accompany episodes of my refractory angina (or many other symptoms of chronic illness for others), there’s another response I’ve only recently begun to learn about.  

And that’s the sound of soft little moaning, groaning, or sighing noises.

Continue reading “What’s all that sighing, moaning and groaning about?” →

Why doctors say ‘Yes!’ when they really mean ‘No!’

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥   @HeartSisters

San Francisco physician Dr. Rahul Parikh wondered in a Salon column why some doctors have such a hard time saying the word “NO!” to their patients. For example:

“I periodically get requests from parents to prescribe cough medicine for their child that contains codeine. Besides the codeine, the drug contains alcohol, naturally leading to a better night’s sleep for child and, hence, the exhausted parent.

“But there’s no evidence that this cough medicine helps the child get better any faster, and it may even be dangerous.

“Should I prescribe it or not? The evidence says no, but to say that can lead to a confrontation with an angry parent.”   Continue reading “Why doctors say ‘Yes!’ when they really mean ‘No!’” →

The myth of the heart disease cure

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 26 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

So a bunch of us, all heart disease survivors, were enjoying breakfast together one morning in Rochester, Minnesota. One of the women at our table looked up from her coffee and announced that, yes, even though she had survived a heart attack and subsequent open heart surgery, she didn’t really have heart disease anymore “you know, like the rest of you do.”

I looked at her and replied, in my most charitable tone:

“Honey, nobody gets invited to attend the WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium for Women With Heart Disease here at Mayo Clinic unless they actually have, you know, heart disease.” 

Her attitude of denial, I was to learn later, is not uncommon.
 Continue reading “The myth of the heart disease cure” →