For the past week or so, I've been playing around with words, exploring meanings and synonyms, consulting dictionaries, thesauruses, poetry and other books for the single word that will serve as my guiding intention for 2020. It’s a practice introduced to me by a friend nearly ten years ago, and one I have embraced wholeheartedly. … Continue reading Dec. 29th: One Guiding Word for the Year Ahead
heart failure patients
December 19, 2019: Waking in Dark Mornings
I live in a place where the winter season can stretch well beyond the calendar date for spring's arrival. Wind, snow, and freezing cold have already forced us into parkas and snow boots, thick scarves wrapped around our necks and knitted toques pulled down over our ears. It is not a time one relishes stepping … Continue reading December 19, 2019: Waking in Dark Mornings
Heart Failure as Teacher
…two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. (From “The Road Less Traveled,” by Robert Frost) It’s a familiar poem, one you were likely introduced to it in a high school English class. Frost’s portrayal of a traveler choosing a … Continue reading Heart Failure as Teacher
August 25, 2019: What Do We Talk About When We Talk About the Heart?
"Are you still writing?" Dr. R. asked as my appointment was ending. I had admitted, several weeks earlier, that I was struggling with writing this blog. "Oh yes," I said, "both blogs, but it's much easier for me to write the Writing Through Cancer posts than it is for my heart failure site." She laughed … Continue reading August 25, 2019: What Do We Talk About When We Talk About the Heart?
July 18, 2019: How Writing Helps Us Heal
(Preface: I began this blog nearly one year ago, and, as the anniversary date approaches, I am looking over my posts and revisiting the motivation that initially prompted me to begin exploring the lived experience of heart failure. I have always written, whether for myself or for publication. It's the way I make sense of … Continue reading July 18, 2019: How Writing Helps Us Heal
June 17, 2019: In the Surgical Waiting Room
We sit on the bench in the hospital corridor next to the cafeteria, and we wait. You know what waiting is. If you know anything, you know what waiting is. It's not about you. This is about illness and hospitals and life and death... (From: "What Waiting Is," by Robert Carroll, 1998) I've sat in … Continue reading June 17, 2019: In the Surgical Waiting Room
May 4, 2019: This Heart of Mine
...it's not easy to think about the heart unless trouble arises.--John Stone, MD This past Wednesday I began another expressive writing series at Gilda's Club, an organization founded in memory of comedian Gilda Radner to provide support and services to people living with cancer. The workshops, which I began nearly 20 years ago, inspired by … Continue reading May 4, 2019: This Heart of Mine
