It’s not what you know, or who you know, but who knows you

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ❤️   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

Almost exactly one year ago, I started feverishly begging everyone I know to please-please-please ask their own family doctors to take on just one more new patient (ME!) despite every family practice clinic in town having a policy of  “Not Accepting Any New Patients” during a doctor shortage.

And my wonderful longtime family doctor had just sent out a “Dear Valued Patient”  letter, announcing her upcoming retirement by Christmas time. Worse – her letter said she’d been unable to arrange a replacement physician for her patients.
Continue reading “It’s not what you know, or who you know, but who knows you” →

Why patients resist asking others for help

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 10 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ❤️   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

Asking for – and accepting – help from other people can be a challenge for those of us who generally see ourselves as the helper, not the helpee.  I come from a long line of Ukrainian women who are born helpers. My late mother’s reflexive response to neighbourhood news of a new baby or a broken leg, for example, was to turn on the oven and start baking for the occasion.   .  Continue reading “Why patients resist asking others for help” →

75 days – but who’s counting?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ❤️   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

A quotation I like a lot (thank you, Bruce Springsteen!) is this: “You get used to anything. Sooner or later, it becomes your life.”  As regular readers already know, I’ve been a heart patient for a long time, ever since surviving a misdiagnosed widow-maker heart attack in 2008 – enough time to really get used to the idea of living with heart disease.

In fact, that’s 17 years of getting used to saying things like “my cardiologist”. 

In 2009,  I launched this Heart Sisters blog.  That’s 16 years of getting used to Sunday morning deadlines and reader comments.

Then in 2017, Johns Hopkins University Press published my book “A Woman’s Guide to Living with Heart Disease”   That’s eight years of getting used to publishers, editors, book reviews – and one unhinged (now former) publicity manager.

But on April 1st, I learned that the lump I’d found on my right breast while showering was a malignant tumor (called invasive ductal carcinoma – the most common form of breast cancer, accounting for 80 per cent of all breast cancer diagnoses).

So far, that’s only 75 days of getting used to being a cancer patient. That makes me a rank amateur.  No wonder I feel so utterly overwhelmed.  Continue reading “75 days – but who’s counting?” →

Signs & symptoms: are they the same thing?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 8 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ❤️   Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

Women showing up at the Emergency Department seeking help due to their frightening cardiac symptoms can often feel “stopped at the gate” .This means they’re denied critical assessment and management of both acute heart disease signs and symptoms.

But signs and symptoms have different meanings.  Your body’s physical symptoms are essentially something that feels out-of-the-ordinary, which may indicate a disease or medical condition.  Symptoms are reported by the person who is experiencing them. And signs are what your health care professional can see or measure. These two words are often used interchangeably, but they’re not the same.   . Continue reading “Signs & symptoms: are they the same thing?” →