I've spent the last three weeks debating about whether to talk about broken hearts, and wondering how personal this blog should ...
Tag Archive: heart
Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day
Today is Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness Day, a cause that is near and dear to me.Nearly three years ago, a friend gave birth to a little girl with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). TOF is comprised by four findings, including: a large hole between the two pumping chambers of the heart (ventricular ...
War: What is it Good For?
I was speaking with a cardiothoracic surgeon recently, and he brought up the topic of war. “It’s a terrible thing,” he said, “but it does wonders for advancing medicine.”It was a perspective that I hadn’t previously considered. Estimates suggest that greater than 90% survival rate for soldiers injured in recent combat. ...
Avoid the Weekend Heart Attack
As I told my mother when she had her heart attack on a Friday afternoon, there's just no good that can come from cardiac care over the weekend. It looks like I was right. The study measured heart attacks that occurred in patients who were already in the hospital, but I'm sure ...
Another Reason to Take a Day Off
The BBC is reporting that stressful jobs negatively affect the body. The study, from the European Heart Journal, was met with a collective "duh" from anyone who has ever had a stressful job. "Stress appeared to upset the part of the nervous system which controls the heart, telling it how ...