Tara 'felt unseen' in a cardiac rehab program, until she located a specific SCAD program.
Transcript
I started going to a cardiac rehab class and I couldn’t do what these other people were doing. And I didn’t see myself in that class. They were all probably in their 70s and 80s, and I was getting taught on smoking cessation programmes and none of that related to me. And so, I felt unseen, however, I was really sick. I was sicker than a lot of them. And so that gave me a bit of hope. So that was that.
Once I graduated from that, there was a SCAD [Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection] specifics rehab group that was out of a different hospital. And that’s when I started working out with women and men that had had a SCAD as well. And we would get on the treadmill and we would talk about our experiences. And that was happening with some other ladies as well, and so those ladies decided, like I think we should start something and meet once a month in hospital.
More from: Tara
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- Self-care – Maintaining Your Own Well-being – TaraTara finds volunteering and connecting with others very fulfilling.
- Finding Information & Cardiac Rehab – TaraTara 'felt unseen' in a cardiac rehab program, until she located a specific SCAD program.
- Reflections on Identity, Life and Death – TaraTara talks about the difficulty of having conversations with younger children.
- Diagnosis – TaraTara describes feeling 'aghast' that she had heart failure.
- Impact on Work, School, Finances – TaraTara talks about choosing between a job she loved and having enough money for herself and family.
- Backstories – TaraTara talks about having a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD - a tear in the wall of a heart artery), not knowing that she had heart failure.
- Advice for Healthcare Providers – TaraTara describes how a nurse sitting with her was 'life altering'.
- Advice for Healthcare Providers – TaraTara speaks to the desire to share information and collaborate with healthcare providers.