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

Do you think too much? How ruminating hurts your heart

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Before my heart attack, I was a champion ruminator. Give me an ugly little problem to worry about, and I’d thrash it to death before finally flinging it aside in a fit of exhaustion, usually after some sleepless nights, a few extra grey hairs, and incalculable damage to my poor coronary arteries.

The late Yale University professor Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema’s research(1) has revealed some interesting facts about ruminating:

“When people ruminate about problems, they remember more negative things that have happened to them in the past, they interpret situations in their current lives more negatively, and they are more hopeless about the future.”

Research also links the habit of rumination with dangerously high levels of the body’s artery-damaging stress hormones like cortisol.      .       .
 Continue reading “Do you think too much? How ruminating hurts your heart” →

You know you have heart disease when . . .

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Three years ago, I started this topic among my heart sisters over at Inspire’s WomenHeart online community.  My invitation to them was to complete this sentence: “You know you have heart disease when . . . “  It turned into one of the most popular posts on that site, drawing responses ranging from hilarious to poignant.

Here’s just a small sampling from these women who know how to walk the talk every day: Continue reading “You know you have heart disease when . . .” →

Should heart patients make a ‘Bucket List’?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 16 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Tomorrow is my cardiac anniversary. It’s been three years since the day I was hospitalized for a heart attack caused by a fully occluded left anterior descending coronary artery. Ongoing cardiac complications mean I’ve often wondered since then if I’d actually live to celebrate this milestone.

Since surviving a heart attack, I’ve been asked on occasion by friends and family (and even people who barely know me) about my “Bucket List” – that Hollywood invention of wonderful things we really must do before we kick the bucket. Continue reading “Should heart patients make a ‘Bucket List’?” →

‘Heart Attack & Soul’: the perfect gift for the heart attack survivor

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

“A heart attack is a deeply wounding event.” So starts Dr. Stephen Parker‘s new book called Heart Attack & Soul: In the Labyrinth of Healing.

The Alaskan cardiac psychologisthas a unique perspective: he is also a heart attack survivor himself. His words will ring true for both heart patients and their families. It’s the story – both in images and words – about the journey of healing after his own 2005 heart attack. He describes how, “in desperation from depression”, he began drawing and painting as he wrestled with how to express how the heart attack had affected him.

Although, amazingly, he had no previous experience making art, his impressive drawings morphed into a blog in which he spent 40 days reviewing the paintings and writing a daily observation. The blog paintings and comments became a well-praised public art exhibit, and that has now at last become a book.  Continue reading “‘Heart Attack & Soul’: the perfect gift for the heart attack survivor” →