Bacon has been called the “gateway drug” that can entice mostly-vegetarians like me over to the dark side of meat-eating. But can there be anything good at all about eating bacon? This useful flowchart will help you decide.
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Q: Are you a bacon lover?
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by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
I’ve written here previously about the difference between people who are health-seekers as opposed to those who tend to be disease-seekers. I would lump myself into the former category; what I’m looking for is quality medical care that’s appropriate and available when I need it. But as a heart attack survivor, I also want to avoid health care that is not 100% absolutely necessary, whether that’s a drug or a clinical procedure or a diagnostic test.
Drugs, procedures and tests that are not necessary make up what doctors call “avoidable care”. It’s a growing issue that the medical profession has been aware of for decades. But many physicians appear oddly unreceptive to hearing or talking about avoidable care, apparently even among their doctor buddies. Continue reading “Avoiding avoidable cardiac care”
Back in 1974, a writer named Emily Perl Kingsley had a baby boy she named Jason who was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Years later, the writer for Sesame Street wrote an essay called Welcome to Holland about living with a child with that diagnosis. This essay has become a classic, and it may help those of us who face any life-altering reality we didn’t see coming – like a serious cardiac diagnosis.
Here’s what Emily wrote: Continue reading ““Welcome to Holland!””
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
“There may be times when the joy you feel about survival far outweighs any anxieties you may have.
“Then, there will be times when your fears and uncertainties seem to take over your life, and you wonder if you will ever feel normal again.”
This sounds so familiar to any of us who have survived a catastrophic cardiac event, doesn’t it?
But these words were not written about heart patients – they’re for cancer survivors. Which made me wonder about this thing known as “survivorship” – a popular concept in oncology that defines a cancer survivor “from the time of diagnosis and for the balance of life.”
But where, I ask you, is the concept of “survivorship” for heart patients and their families? And why haven’t I found it yet? Continue reading “Where’s the “survivorship” model for heart patients?”
Heart Sisters 