Tag: Knowing & Going

Looking good for your doctor’s appointment

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 24 Comments

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by Carolyn Thomas  ♥  @HeartSisters

I remember that moment very clearly. I was sitting in my kitchen, staring at the wall clock. Like many newly-diagnosed heart attack survivors, I was in the throes of what we now know was completely unexpected post-hospital discharge depression. I had a follow-up appointment with my doctor that morning, and at that moment, I was having a very hard time trying to decide whether or not I should wash my hair.

Normally, shower/hair-washing is just part of my regular daily routine – not something to be decided at all. But on this day, some part of me knew that this might be the third or even the fifth day in a row I’d gone without bothering to shower, and maybe I shouldn’t let my doctor see me like this. 

Wouldn’t want her to see how bad things had become for me. Wouldn’t want her to see me without my perfect pasted-on happy smile/make-up/clothes/hair. Continue reading “Looking good for your doctor’s appointment” →

‘Knowing & Going’ – act fast when heart attack symptoms hit

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

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by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

I finally realized that I was in big trouble during a five-hour flight from Ottawa to Vancouver.  But I’d been told emphatically by an Emergency Department physician two weeks earlier that my problem was just acid reflux – not a heart attack.

So for two weeks, I’d endured increasingly debilitating attacks of chest pain, pain radiating down my left arm, sweating and nausea.  But hey! – at least I knew it wasn’t my heart.  A man with the letters M.D. after his name had told me so.

I suffered two more attacks in the Ottawa airport before boarding, and two more during that endless flight to Vancouver.  At no time did I consider saying anything to the Air Canada flight attendants about my growing distress.  I sure didn’t want to be one of those passengers they have to turn the plane around for because of a medical emergency. How embarrassing would that be – and all just for indigestion? click to continue reading