How will you write your comeback story?
A question that has plagued me since I survived a sudden out of hospital cardiac arrest in March 2014. Mine, now anyway, is more an of existential question, of finding a way to make the shock and struggle mean something, a way to help other people, a way to have an impact on the world. But for a lot of people in the same boat, including people dealing with heart disease, it's more practical than that. It's about achieving a certain level and quality of life on a daily basis that someone without health issues most likely takes for granted.
Last Tuesday (11 August) I attended the ICD Support Group at Royal North Shore Hospital. I'd been to a couple before, but this one focused on the guest speaker Dr Samuel Sears from East Carolina University. Dr Sears is a Clinical Psychologist who specialises on the psychological care of people living with an ICD. You can access his bio here.
Apart from being a really warm, funny, approachable and knowledgeable guy, what became abundantly clear is his passion for the area of mental health for patients with ICDs. This is the area I struggled with the most post my cardiac arrest so I too am very passionate about it. It also seems to be an area lacking in Australia. As far as my knowledge extends, there doesn't seem to be someone like Dr
Sears who specialises in a combination of cardiology and psychology. Specialised care has to be sought independently for either a psychologist or psychiatrist through a referral from your GP or Cardiologist. It was therefore refreshing to meet and listen to Dr Sears speak about this topic because he understands both sides of the coin: the mental and physical.
His focus is on providing his patients confidence in facing their fears and struggles in the face of threat. Some challenges that ICD patients have to tackle include:
Dr Sears presented findings from some recent medical studies.The gist of some of these was the discovery of distress, depression and anxiety experienced by patients with ICDs and their families; and the constant fear they live with which inhibits them from living their life. Furthermore this fear leads to a lack of engagement in activities. The most profound study presented was that of exercise and ICDs conducted over 2.2 years and on 98,000 patients. The discovery was that on average, these patients moved less than 2 hours per day, which means they spent at least 22 hours per day not moving. When the survival rate was looked at in terms of most active versus least active, the study concluded that the most active patients were most likely to be alive four years later. When talking about activity we're not talking anything complicated or extreme either - just some form of basic movement, as opposed to being sedentary. Conclusion: some, any movement is better than none.
In fact, data now suggests that doctors have been too safe with the prescription of types of activities that heart/ICD patients can partake in. What they do know is that muscles, joints, the human body and mind have been designed to function better as a whole with movement. Of course it is important to note that competitive athleticism remains very much a grey area and clinical judgement should be made by a cardiologist.
Dr Sears eloquently went on to discuss confidence in cardiac patients, how to achieve quality of life, and perceived safety and confidence in the context of threat. Some standout points:
That's a lesson I learned early on in life and I guess what drives and motivates me to take action rather than sit back and be a passenger in my life.
So what was my one strategy I took out of this presentation that will help me lead a confident life? It was the reassurance that I'm doing everything I can possibly be doing to prolong my life: medication, ICD, regular monitoring by my cardiologist and GP, regular exercise, balanced eating, minimising stress, and most importantly taking time out to have fun and create and enjoy wonderful moments with the people I love.
How will I write my cardiac comeback? I think the above is a damn good start. Only time will tell what happens and evolves beyond that.
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Some interesting facts and statistics:
A question that has plagued me since I survived a sudden out of hospital cardiac arrest in March 2014. Mine, now anyway, is more an of existential question, of finding a way to make the shock and struggle mean something, a way to help other people, a way to have an impact on the world. But for a lot of people in the same boat, including people dealing with heart disease, it's more practical than that. It's about achieving a certain level and quality of life on a daily basis that someone without health issues most likely takes for granted.
Last Tuesday (11 August) I attended the ICD Support Group at Royal North Shore Hospital. I'd been to a couple before, but this one focused on the guest speaker Dr Samuel Sears from East Carolina University. Dr Sears is a Clinical Psychologist who specialises on the psychological care of people living with an ICD. You can access his bio here.
Apart from being a really warm, funny, approachable and knowledgeable guy, what became abundantly clear is his passion for the area of mental health for patients with ICDs. This is the area I struggled with the most post my cardiac arrest so I too am very passionate about it. It also seems to be an area lacking in Australia. As far as my knowledge extends, there doesn't seem to be someone like Dr
Sears who specialises in a combination of cardiology and psychology. Specialised care has to be sought independently for either a psychologist or psychiatrist through a referral from your GP or Cardiologist. It was therefore refreshing to meet and listen to Dr Sears speak about this topic because he understands both sides of the coin: the mental and physical.His focus is on providing his patients confidence in facing their fears and struggles in the face of threat. Some challenges that ICD patients have to tackle include:
- Coping with their cardiac condition
- Coping with an ICD
- Resuming activity and quality of life
Dr Sears presented findings from some recent medical studies.The gist of some of these was the discovery of distress, depression and anxiety experienced by patients with ICDs and their families; and the constant fear they live with which inhibits them from living their life. Furthermore this fear leads to a lack of engagement in activities. The most profound study presented was that of exercise and ICDs conducted over 2.2 years and on 98,000 patients. The discovery was that on average, these patients moved less than 2 hours per day, which means they spent at least 22 hours per day not moving. When the survival rate was looked at in terms of most active versus least active, the study concluded that the most active patients were most likely to be alive four years later. When talking about activity we're not talking anything complicated or extreme either - just some form of basic movement, as opposed to being sedentary. Conclusion: some, any movement is better than none.In fact, data now suggests that doctors have been too safe with the prescription of types of activities that heart/ICD patients can partake in. What they do know is that muscles, joints, the human body and mind have been designed to function better as a whole with movement. Of course it is important to note that competitive athleticism remains very much a grey area and clinical judgement should be made by a cardiologist.
Dr Sears eloquently went on to discuss confidence in cardiac patients, how to achieve quality of life, and perceived safety and confidence in the context of threat. Some standout points:
- Quality of life (QOL) is personal and point in time dependant
- Your definition of QOL is under your control
- Confident living is the fuel for the achievement of QOL
- Arrhythmia is random, don't know for certain what causes it
- Doesn't matter what causes arrhythmia, but you have strategies to keep you safe (medicines, ICDs and monitoring)
- Can't control arrhythmia but don't allow it to control you!
- When it comes to confident thinking and living, work out what activities are your goal, and work towards these
- These activities should make you feel alive and well. Think about what activities you liked to do in the past, before getting an ICD or having an ICD shock?
- Be proactive, test the limits safely
- ICD gives safety to make a cardiac comeback, essentially helping you deal with a condition that is spontaneous, unpredictable and potentially life threatening
- QOL is an achievement, not an entitlement
- A shift from victim to survivor reduces stress
- Mental health is what we believe about the future; it's earned and deliberate
- Have an ICD shock plan
- Foster confident relationships by creating intimacy and finding ways to feel closer to the people who love you
That's a lesson I learned early on in life and I guess what drives and motivates me to take action rather than sit back and be a passenger in my life.
So what was my one strategy I took out of this presentation that will help me lead a confident life? It was the reassurance that I'm doing everything I can possibly be doing to prolong my life: medication, ICD, regular monitoring by my cardiologist and GP, regular exercise, balanced eating, minimising stress, and most importantly taking time out to have fun and create and enjoy wonderful moments with the people I love.
How will I write my cardiac comeback? I think the above is a damn good start. Only time will tell what happens and evolves beyond that.
----------------------------------------------------------
Some interesting facts and statistics:
- The first human ICD implant occurred in 1980.
- There's 4-6% chance of and ICD shock in an average year.
- Activity avoidance in kids is 84.5% and 39-55% in adults.
- A weaker heart (e.g. 35% ejection fraction) has a tendency to act irregular.
- Risk of driving in ICD patients is the same as other people - it's equally as dangerous.
