Tag: Dr. Stephen Parker

The word ‘Kafka-esque’ means nightmarish or strange – like a frightening new diagnosis

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 21 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    @HeartSisters

Have you ever had the same nightmare more than once about the same impossibly unlikely scenario? My own recurring nightmare:  I’m walking into Mrs. Webster’s Grade 13 math class (Ontario high schools went up to Grade 13 in those days). I’m about to write my final math exam – until I suddenly remember that I’ve somehow forgotten to go to math class – ALL YEAR!

That’s the kind of dream described as “Kafka-esque”, named for the writer Franz Kafka. Dr. David Pickus explains that word:

“Kafka-esque is primarily a synonym for ‘nightmarish’ or ‘inexplicably bad’ events – especially if they take the form of a strange interruption of everyday life.”

It also struck me that this“strange interruption of everyday life” is precisely how hearing an “inexplicably bad” medical diagnosis so often feels.   Continue reading “The word ‘Kafka-esque’ means nightmarish or strange – like a frightening new diagnosis” →

Happy 15th Heart-iversary to me. . .♥

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 41 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters 

I can still vividly recall the hospital volunteer I met while in the CCU (the Intensive Care Unit for heart patients). She told me that several years earlier, she too had survived a heart attack like mine: what doctors call the “widow maker” heart attack. That’s an ironically male-centric name for a heart attack so severe that it could transform a (male) patient’s wife into a widow. But what really struck me about this volunteer was that she was walking, talking, and most surprisingly – looking completely “normal” – at a time when I doubted I’d ever feel “normal” again.

Yesterday, May 6th marked 15 years since the day I met that woman in the CCU. On that sunny spring day back in 2008, while recuperating from a misdiagnosed heart attack, I not only doubted my capacity for normalcy, but I certainly didn’t believe I would live long enough to celebrate a 15th Heart-iversary. Continue reading “Happy 15th Heart-iversary to me. . .♥” →

The 5 stages of “What the hell just happened to me?”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 23 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

Kathy Kastan’s book “From the Heart” was hot off the press when I survived a misdiagnosed heart attack in 2008. Hers was the first book I found that focused specifically on women and heart disease. Here’s how her own story was described on the book’s cover:

“After undergoing emergency coronary bypass surgery at age 42, Kathy Kastan found her world shifting in unexpected ways. Everything – her sense of well-being, relationships, daily routine, even her body image – seemed to change. Doctors helped her recover physically, but she had to find new methods to recover emotionally and create a happy, healthy life.”  

While I read this back then, my own world was crazily shifting, too. Continue reading “The 5 stages of “What the hell just happened to me?”” →

You’re not always going to feel this way

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 20 Comments
by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

While binge-watching Season 4 of Grace and Frankie on Netflix the other day, I heard Frankie’s sweetheart, Jacob the Yam Man, trying to calm her down with a statement that has proven to be very true for me since my heart attack:

“You’re not always going to feel the way you do today!”

I think I’ll go embroider that on a pillow. . .            Continue reading “You’re not always going to feel this way” →