by Carolyn Thomas ❤️ Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)
It all started with a burger a few weeks ago.
My lovely daughter-in-law Paula had picked up a takeout lunch for me from the village. The burger looked perfect: a freshly baked crusty bun, butter lettuce, juicy ripe tomato slices, yellow mustard and garlic dill pickle relish. I took a nice big bite – and then immediately spat it out onto my plate. Continue reading “Remember when food tasted like food?”
by Carolyn Thomas ❤️ Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)
As far back as I can remember, I have always been one of those annoyingly cheerful early morning people who bounce out of bed most mornings, raring to go. And so when I first heard the term “optimism bias”, my immediate reaction was:”That’s me!” But there’s apparently far more to optimism bias than bouncing cheerfully out of bed. (And my own mornings are admittedly less bouncy lately, given that I’m approaching Round 3 of chemotherapy for breast cancer, including a whack of side effects that have often felt like being run over by a large bus).
Continue reading “Optimistic, pessimistic or realistic: take your pick”
by Carolyn Thomas ❤️ Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)
Asking for – and accepting – help from other people can be a challenge for those of us who generally see ourselves as the helper, not the helpee. I come from a long line of Ukrainian women who are born helpers. My late mother’s reflexive response to neighbourhood news of a new baby or a broken leg, for example, was to turn on the oven and start baking for the occasion. . Continue reading “Why patients resist asking others for help”
by Carolyn Thomas ❤️ Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)
A quotation I like a lot (thank you, Bruce Springsteen!) is this: “You get used to anything. Sooner or later, it becomes your life.” As regular readers already know, I’ve been a heart patient for a long time, ever since surviving a misdiagnosed widow-maker heart attack in 2008 – enough time to really get used to the idea of living with heart disease.
In fact, that’s 17 years of getting used to saying things like “my cardiologist”.
In 2009, I launched this Heart Sisters blog. That’s 16 years of getting used to Sunday morning deadlines and reader comments.
Then in 2017, Johns Hopkins University Press published my book “A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease” That’s eight years of getting used to publishers, editors, book reviews – and one unhinged (now former) publicity manager.
But on April 1st, I learned that the lump I’d found on my right breast while showering was a malignant tumor (called invasive ductal carcinoma – the most common form of breast cancer, accounting for 80 per cent of all breast cancer diagnoses).
So far, that’s only 75 days of getting used to being a cancer patient. That makes me a rank amateur. No wonder I feel so utterly overwhelmed. Continue reading “75 days – but who’s counting?”
Heart Sisters 