by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
The “new normal”. It’s what the freshly-diagnosed heart patient is supposed to get used to now. The implication seems clear: “Forget about your old life and the person you once were.” Many of us fight that “new normal” label, but there might be another way to look at this. . Continue reading “The “new normal” – and why patients hate it”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I read an article in The Guardian recently. It happened to be about menopause, a stage of life I have already graduated from (thank goodness!) But it was still interesting to me, as a person who once exhibited world-class projectile sweating during an event at which I was the guest of honour.
But that’s another menopause story entirely.
One particular line of this article leaped out at me. Not about menopause at all, actually, but about women who have opinions. . Continue reading “While we’re at it – and I am always at it…”
You’ve just undergone surgery. Somehow, a mistake was made. The result is that you were harmed when you expected to be healed.
Hurt, angry and scared, you look to your doctors and ask: “What now? What do you have to say?” And they are silent. . Continue reading “Why is it so hard for your doctor to apologize?”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Many years before I finally left a decades-long professional relationship with my family physician, I had observed distressing changes in her practice. I didn’t say anything about these changes at first. They began with her new all-cash medical aesthetics clinic (think: nonstop before-and-after Botox videos looping in every exam room).
She did not post an actual sign in her waiting room telling her longtime patients what we all knew: “I Am No Longer Interested in the Practice of Family Medicine” – but everything about her behaviours clearly announced that she’d already moved on without telling us. . Continue reading “The medical hierarchy shift”
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