posts here focus on the “new normal” you’ll discover once you get home from hospital and the reality starts to sink in
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ July 21, 2019
And you thought YOU had a lot of medical appointments. . .
Writing on her blog, “Sick With Optimism“, a Canadian patient regularly sees three nephrologists from three different clinics, two hematologists, two rheumatologists, a cardiologist, her GP – “as well as so many interns, inpatient doctors and fellows, I can’t even count!”
I was profoundly moved by her story about how one of her many recent doctors’ appointments evolved. . .
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ July 14 , 2019
Let’s say you’re a woman recently diagnosed with heart disease who wants to know if it’s “normal” to feel crushing fatigue every time you take a shower. Or you’re a woman living with rheumatoid disease who needs advice on which shoes are best for people who suffer joint pain like yours. Or you’re a woman diagnosed with breast cancer who is trying to make sense of the new emotional extremes you’re struggling with.
Who you gonna call? Continue reading “The questions you don’t ask your doctor”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ June 30, 2019
I regularly hear from Heart Sisters readers who contact me because they’re having distressing symptoms that might be heart-related, and they want me to help solve the diagnostic mystery. (Please don’t do this, by the way. I’m not a physician so cannot comment on your specific symptoms. That’s all I will be able to tell you if you ask for a medical opinion). But besides my standard “See your doctor!” advice, there’s one thing I do recommend to readers worried about strange new symptoms, and that is simply to start a Symptom Journal.
Here’s how it works: . Continue reading “Start a symptom journal, and solve a mystery”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ June 23, 2019
I can’t be completely sure, of course, but I’m betting my next squirt of nitro spray that I am a world-class stoic when it comes to putting up with pain. I survived a ruptured appendix and a near-fatal case of peritonitis that kept me hospitalized for a month as a teenager. I popped out two babies the old-fashioned, drug-free way. I suffered a broken bone in a bicycle accident while commuting downtown, but still somehow climbed back on that bike in order to show up on time for the meeting I was heading to.
And I put up with two long weeks of increasingly unbearable symptoms (including being unable to walk more than five steps at a time) after being initially misdiagnosed in mid-heart attack with acid reflux.
So I sat up and paid attention when I happened upon the Despite Pain blog post called The Problem with Being Used to Pain or Illness.
Continue reading “When you ignore pain because you’re used to it…”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ April 7, 2019
In the game of poker, zero sum game theory suggests that the sum of the amounts won by some players equals the combined losses of the others. So if one player wins big, then other players must lose big.
It struck me recently that it’s possible our healthcare system functions as if it were a zero sum game, too.
Continue reading “Women’s heart health: why it’s NOT a zero sum game”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters ♥ March 10, 2019
People living with chronic illness often discover that they must adapt to changes in what occupational therapists like to call our activities of daily living (ADLs). The basic ADLs typically include eating, bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, and moving around independently (e.g. getting up off that couch). Even smaller changes occur: for example, I now wear a medical I.D. on my wrist all day. I never leave home without my nitro spray for chronic angina. I count out all my cardiac meds for the week in labeled pill organizers. These represent a few of the many adaptations I’ve learned to make since my cardiac diagnosis. 
