by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
In Dr. Wayne Sotile’s very useful book for all freshly-diagnosed heart patients called Thriving With Heart Disease, he nails the description of what he calls the patient’s “homecoming blues“. It’s that need to adjust from being cared for 24/7 in hospital following a cardiac event to suddenly being booted out the door and sent back home. For example:
“You’re now home from the hospital, and you’re expected to surf a bewildering wave of emotions, anxieties and procedures.
“Moving very slowly, bouts of depression, weeping, social withdrawal or obsessive anxiety about dying – these are all normal during the early stages of heart disease.”
Normal or not, I found “obsessive anxiety about dying” to be an extremely unpleasant way to live in the days following my own heart attack. Continue reading “Are you a victim or a survivor?”