Tag: Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator

Implantable cardiac defibrillator shocks vs. “careful and kind” end-of-life care

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 8 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥    Heart Sisters (on Blue Sky)

Here’s how I defined implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD)  in my patient-friendly, jargon-free glossary:  small battery-operated electronic device that’s surgically inserted into the chest to treat life-threatening heart rhythm problems.  An implanted ICD is almost like having a tiny Emergency Department at the ready, right inside your own chest, capable of delivering a shock strong enough to restore a struggling heart’s normal rhythm, thus helping to prevent sudden cardiac arrest.

But what happens when the ICD patient is not dying from a heart rhythm problem – but from a terminal medical condition?     Continue reading “Implantable cardiac defibrillator shocks vs. “careful and kind” end-of-life care” →

Dear Carolyn: “Breaking up is hard to do”

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters 

Breaking up is hard to do. That’s how my blog reader Tommie O’Sullivan described to me the sad news that she lost first one, and then a second trusted cardiologist. It’s nothing personal. Important family reasons. Retirement. She understands these things. But still. . .

As part of my occasional and ongoing “Dear Carolyn” series of guest posts written by women who have learned firsthand what becoming a heart patient is all about, I’m happy to share this, with her permission. Tommie’s words reminded me that, so far, I’ve been lucky in never experiencing the loss of a favourite physician. I suspect that – in this age of increasingly empowered patients, critical doctor reviews online, and second opinions from Dr. Google – her sentiments are what every physician longs to hear one day from their patients: “I will really miss you!”  Continue reading “Dear Carolyn: “Breaking up is hard to do”” →

Hello pacers! A little Q&A about your pacemaker

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 178 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

Here at Heart Sisters World Headquarters, I’m often contacted by readers with impertinent questions like: “Why don’t you ever write about ______?” (insert your own specific diagnosis here). One in particular was a 2015 reader question that read: “Why don’t you ever write about congenital heart defects?” On that particular morning, I was feeling tired, sick and “grumpy” (as our little Everly Rose calls every feeling she has that’s not happy). I wanted to snap back at this reader that I’m not running the Encyclopedia Britannica here. . .

But in a remarkable coincidence – and luckily before I had a chance to snap – on that very day, another reader named Aletha happened to share with me her own amazing story as an adult living with a heart condition she’d had since birth. That weekend, I ran my first ever blog post about this cardiac condition, called “When babies with congenital heart defects grow up“. 

And recently, a similar reader contact reminded me that I’ve never covered the topic of cardiac pacemakers – until now. Continue reading “Hello pacers! A little Q&A about your pacemaker” →

What heart patients want ICD makers to know

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 48 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

dont-forget-about-me-4225379_1280 One of my Mayo Clinic heart sisters was recently invited to speak at a Patient Advocates Forum during the annual AdvaMed conference in Washington, DC – billed as “the premiere annual conference of the medical technology industry”.  This industry includes companies that manufacture cardiac devices like pacemakers and ICDs (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators).

So she did what all of us lucky ‘Mayo grads’ are easily able to do: she contacted other graduates of the annual WomenHeart Science and Leadership Symposium for Women With Heart Disease at Mayo Clinic. What, she asked us, would patients want her to say to these 1,000+ delegates from device companies (and the physicians who care for heart patients) attending this conference? She wanted other patient perspectives on what it’s like living with a metal device implanted inside your chest, what they worried about, and what could be done better. Here is a sampling of the responses – so listen up, titans of the medical device industry and all those who implant these devices into our bodies:   Continue reading “What heart patients want ICD makers to know” →