Category: Living with heart disease

posts here focus on the “new normal” you’ll discover once you get home from hospital and the reality starts to sink in

“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful…”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 31 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters   ♥  August 17, 2019

“Life is amazing. And then it’s awful. And then it’s amazing again. And in between the amazing and the awful, it’s ordinary and mundane and routine. Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary. That’s just living heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life. And it’s breathtakingly beautiful.”

This reminder about the amazingness of life from author L.R. Knost has always rung true for me.(1)  And so do these words of a local Kindergarten teacher who tells her kids: “You get what you get, and you don’t get upset!”

But we do get upset. Really upset. Especially when we observe that we’re getting not nearly enough “amazing” and way too much “awful”.  . Continue reading ““Life is amazing. And then it’s awful…”” →

Scope creep: when NO means maybe, and maybe means YES

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 24 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥   @HeartSisters  

I’ve been grappling with a wallop of personal guilt lately. I don’t feel guilty because I’ve done something wrong, but because I finally had to say “No!” to a friend I’d been helping for a long time.

During my public relations career, we called this phenomenon “scope creep”. For example, you happily agree one day to a project with clear parameters, but over time one thing after another gets piled on top of your desk, until the project is suddenly so unwieldy that you wonder how this even happened.

It happened because of scope creep. And your inability to say “No!”  to keep the whole thing on track as you went along.  And the way things change. Continue reading “Scope creep: when NO means maybe, and maybe means YES” →

Who is in charge of you?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters  

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. . .

Continue reading “Who is in charge of you?” →

The questions you don’t ask your doctor

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 17 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters  

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 severe foot 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” →