Tag: Dr. Wayne Sotile

Cardiac College for (Freshly Diagnosed) Women: “Your heart is like a house”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 11 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

I typically spend about one hour per year checking in with my wonderful cardiologist (barring setbacks that may send me back into the hospital) but like many/most heart patients, I spend 8,765 hours per year managing the day-to-day reality of cardiac symptoms, concerns and meds on my own.

I learned long ago while participating in my free Pain Self-Management classes (thank you Canada, commie-pinko land of socialized medicine!) that I needed a basic understanding of how the heart functions – not a medical-jargon-med-school-textbook-understanding, but a solid patient-friendly one.  I wish I’d had this helpful and jargon-free overview back then describing the heart-as-a-house – from the Toronto-based resource (more free stuff!) called Cardiac College for Women.  For example:     . Continue reading “Cardiac College for (Freshly Diagnosed) Women: “Your heart is like a house”” →

What I wish I knew back then: “How heart patients can make peace with an errant organ”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 13 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Here’s my theory:  few health crises in life are as frightening as surviving a cardiac event.  I developed this theory while I was busy having my own “widow maker“ heart attack in the spring of 2008. Continue reading “What I wish I knew back then: “How heart patients can make peace with an errant organ”” →

What I wish I knew back then: “New heart patients must choose their listeners carefully.”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

 by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

I once heard the late author Dr. Leo Buscaglia tell a conference audience a touching story about how he grew up equating caregiving with love. When he was a little boy, for example, his own mother was cold and distant  – except when he was sick. During those times, she would sit at his bedside, stroke his fevered brow, spoon-feed him homemade soup, fuss over each painful twinge, listen carefully to his every wimper, and become the kind of loving mother he rarely knew when he was healthy.   

But when he grew up and married, he was shocked by his new wife’s behaviour toward him whenever he got sick.      . Continue reading “What I wish I knew back then: “New heart patients must choose their listeners carefully.”” →