Ignoring the bad (cough. VERY bad) accent, Keanu Reaves’ character Jonathan Harkar describes his apparent state of mind while visiting Count Dracula in his castle: Doctor, you must understand, I doubted everything! Including my mind! I was impotent with fear! As though I am the bad (English?) accented Jonathan Harker speaking to my own benevolent doctor (if anyone on […]
After spending time reflecting upon the nightmare yet another learning experience on my journey to a new heart, it struck me that so much has happened to me since my initial hospitalization in Victoria that I needed some kind of way of reflecting upon the of the past 6-weeks. I’m not gonna lie, what follows is an account […]
I’m not going to lie. I’m scared. I have cried… Alot. But I would always let myself cry and if I carried on too long I would then hear Tom Hanks yell at me “There’s no crying in baseball!” For, you see, this is now My game, and in it I have to keep playing […]
Are we there yet? Are we there yet? No, but we are on a bit of a vacation. What insiders call an Inotrope Vacation. Inotropes are a class of medication administered by IV that must be closely monitored along with the heart. Especially by highly trained, super cute and witty male nurses: Batman and Robin. […]
Last year I participated in developing a video education series for new Heart Failure patients on Vancouver Island. Since I am a patient, I was asked to participate in a group interview. What resulted was an excellent series of videos about what it’s like living with Heart Failure. I am quite proud to have participated […]
[su_quote]We should treat all trivial things in life very seriously, and all serious things of life with a sincere and studied triviality. — Oscar Wilde[/su_quote] The above quote is from Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest, A trivial Comedy for Serious People (1895). Wikipedia’s in depth literary analysis (Ahem. #CredibleSourceAlert) tells me that […]
Of all the most exclusive, rarest, lists one hopes to be on: Forbes list of the richest people in the world, one of People Magazine’s most beautiful, David Letterman’s top 10 (OK, let’s face it, the only other list I have been on is the honour roll…barely…but you get the point), the heart transplant list […]
Ever watch those war movies? You know the ones where during the heat of battle one of the soldiers gets shot and the others carry the wounded one out because they swore to never leave a wounded soldier behind? Having a chronic and terminal illness is kinda like being a soldier, shot and left for […]
Not long after I was diagnosed I was having a conversation with my parents on the telephone. I don’t remember what we were talking about but what I do remember was my dad saying “Don’t worry dear, you’re not defective”. Now I know he meant this in the most endearing way possible but the funny […]
So much of my life seems out of my control. This was one of the things that was hardest to come to terms with. I would wrestle with questions like: How could my body betray me like this? What did I do to deserve this? Why me? Blah blah blah. Since the beginning of this […]