Pregnancy: the ultimate cardiac stress test

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 5 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

I’m not interested in this Canadian women’s health initiative in Kingston, Ontario just because it will help identify links between our pregnancy complications and heart disease.

I’m not interested in this just because during my first pregnancy I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia – a serious complication that has now been “strongly linked” with a marked increase in cardiovascular disease.

And I’m not interested just because I have such a personal soft spot for the historic limestone city of Kingston and for its venerable Queen’s University, along with other members of our family who are Queen’s grads – “Oil thigh na Banrighinn! Cha-gheill! Cha-gheill! Cha-gheill! ” (for those of you who happen to have your Gaelic-English dictionaries handy).

Here’s why I do care about this innovative new women’s program.   Continue reading “Pregnancy: the ultimate cardiac stress test” →

“Seeking Social Solace”: why aren’t heart patients online?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 17 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

See that microscopically tiny little purple sliver near the top of the pie chart? That’s heart disease – and the sliver represents how many heart patients are going online to engage with others about our shared diagnosis. As you can see, we make up barely 2% of all diagnoses discussed by patients on social media, the second smallest slice of this very big tasty pie.  You might wonder why that is given that, compared to every other disease included in this study’s findings, heart disease is our biggest killer. Continue reading ““Seeking Social Solace”: why aren’t heart patients online?” →

Advice for heart patients too tired to do housework

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

“Always keep several get well cards on the mantle. So if unexpected guests arrive, they will think you’ve been sick and unable to clean.” 

Maxine © 1986  Shoebox Greetings

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“Gigi”: An E.R. doc’s warning to his residents

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 2 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas

An experienced E.R. physician is supervising a regular training lesson for residents in his hospital’s Emergency Medicine program one morning. The class is reviewing EKGs, going over interesting cardiac cases from their E.R., and reviewing subtle abnormalities in lab work or x-rays.

His residents are willing to put in this extra time to become better E.R doctors.

On the EKGs shown overhead on the big screen, the name of each heart patient being discussed is whited-out to protect patient confidentiality. What isn’t hidden, though, is the name of the EKG tech who performed the EKG procedure on the patient. And there, in the left lower border of EKG #6’s information box, the E.R. doc spots the technician’s name.

“Gigi”.     Continue reading ““Gigi”: An E.R. doc’s warning to his residents” →