Tag: Christine Miserandino

Still too tired to put away the Halloween costume…

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 20 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters 

I’m a wee bit embarrassed to admit that my Halloween costume is still on a hanger on prominent display, hanging from a bookshelf in the bedroom, waiting to be boxed up and put away. I’m thinking of calling it a room decor feature by now. It’s a spectacular clown costume, I must say, complete with big baggy pants in ravishingly bright colours and, of course, with its own rainbow clown wig. I’ve worn it dozens of times over decades, and often loaned it out to Halloween party-goers among my family and friends, too.

It’s pretty nice, but it’s not nice enough to explain why, after over a month, I haven’t been able to put this costume away yet. I suspect my utter inability to do so reflects the state of my life these days, and the fact that my days are typically divided into these two distinctly unique phases: Continue reading “Still too tired to put away the Halloween costume…” →

Can’t sleep? Feeling blue? Seven things women must avoid doing at 2 a.m!

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 14 Comments

 

And now for a bit of wise humour, courtesy of the always creative Christine Miserandino at one of my favourite websites, But You Don’t Look Sick?  

“We all have been there. It is 2 a.m, you can’t sleep, you have a lot on your mind – and let’s face facts, you are depressed. After doing all of the wrong things to combat depression, I thought I would pass on some of my knowledge to you. Hopefully you can find better things to do with your time at 2 a.m. than I did. Why only seven things? I fell asleep, and I was too depressed to think of 10…   Continue reading “Can’t sleep? Feeling blue? Seven things women must avoid doing at 2 a.m!” →

“But you don’t look sick…”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

happy face hats

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

There have been some days when it would have been ever-so-handy if I were sporting a cast on my arm, or crutches, or a big fat neck brace. Now that would be a realistic indicator to the world ‘out there’ of how it can sometimes feel to have Coronary Microvascular Disease, a particularly debilitating form of heart disease.

But instead, every day some of us wake up, shower, get dressed in our usual clothes, comb our hair in the usual way, floss and brush just like we have always done – and go about our day, looking pretty much how we’ve always looked.

Few people ‘out there’ who don’t know us would even guess that we live with significant heart disease.  Few would guess that I’m still unable to work at the PR  job I love, for example, or that even the smallest outing with family or friends takes every bit of stamina I can muster, or that I need to nap like a pre-schooler every day just to manage the ‘new normal’ that has become my life. Continue reading ““But you don’t look sick…”” →

“You look great!” – and other things you should never say to heart patients

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 23 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

“Wow!  You look great!  You look just the same!”

In the early days, that was a fairly typical greeting from those who had not seen me for a while.  While some might assume that this is a thoughtful and flattering comment to offer a freshly-diagnosed heart attack survivor, many times it didn’t feel that way.

Surprised? Many people, especially in the early days, weeks and months while still reeling emotionally and physically from their life-altering cardiac train wreck, tell me that they often feel like replying to such greetings with:

“I am NOT the same!”

Instead of  the well-meant but oddly niggling “You look great!” – what might be more helpful to the freshly-diagnosed heart patient?   click to continue reading