by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
According to Mark Waldman and Dr. Andrew Newberg, this word can damage both the speaker’s and the listener’s brain. In a Psychology Today article, they called it “the most dangerous word in the world.”
What word is it? Continue reading “The most dangerous word in the world”
This post written by Susan Bengivingo RN* was first published on Women’s College Hospital’s Women’s Health Matters site, where I was happy to discover it so I could share it here with you:
“It was around midnight. My hospital colleague Donna Stairs and I had got the patients settled down for the night, and we were having a well-earned cup of coffee when the buzzer rang.
“The buzzer is there because our hospital is locked up at night. Visitors from the city find it strange to lock a hospital at night but it’s a security issue in rural areas like Strathmore, Alberta. We don’t have guards – just a couple of nurses!
“I went and looked out and there was a young woman, in her late 20s or early 30s, I would guess. She was wearing a long raincoat and had slippers on her feet. Let’s call her Mary. So I buzzed the door open and she was very apologetic.
“I have a terrible pain in my shoulder,” Mary said. “And I’m feeling nauseous.” Continue reading “Three women, one heart attack and a sound asleep husband”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I remember that moment very clearly. I was sitting in my kitchen, staring at the wall clock. Like many newly-diagnosed heart attack survivors, I was in the throes of what we now know was completely unexpected post-hospital discharge depression. I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor that morning, and at that moment, I was having a very hard time trying to decide whether or not I should wash my hair.
Normally, shower/hair-washing is just part of my regular daily routine – not something to be decided at all. But on this day, some part of me knew that this might be the third or even the fifth day in a row I’d gone without bothering to shower, and maybe I shouldn’t let my doctor see me like this.
Wouldn’t want her to see how bad things had become for me. Wouldn’t want her to see me without my perfect pasted-on happy smile/make-up/clothes/hair. Continue reading “Looking good for your doctor’s appointment”
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Each surgical scar on my body tells a story. The big long one that tracks across my lower right abdomen tells of an appendix that ruptured on my 16th birthday – and the subsequent month I spent in hospital seriously ill with peritonitis and creepy drainage tubes. Two scars on my right knee tell of surgery after an unfortunate slide down a big pile of gravel. Another meandering zig zag tells of a nasty piece of broken glass once embedded into my left palm, its evidence exquisitely masked by the skilled plastic surgeon who sewed my hand back up.
Women who have survived open heart surgery sometimes have traumatic stories to tell about their very noticeable chest scars, and mixed emotions about whether “to hide or not to hide” this evidence of their cardiac history, particularly in the early weeks and months post-op. Continue reading “Learning to love your open heart surgery scar”
Heart Sisters 