During the first week of Heart Month 2018,
UHN News goes to the frontlines of cardiovascular care at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC). We talk to patients about their diagnosis, prognosis and the treatment of their heart condition, as well as what they would do differently, if anything, knowing what they know now about their health.
These intensely personal snapshots provide insight into the personal journeys of these patients as well as the range of cardiac and vascular conditions treated by leading experts at PMCC and multi-disciplinary teams at UHN.
In their own words, this is what three patients had to say.
Meet Patrick
By all accounts, doctors are amazed by what Patrick has been able to accomplish over the past several years – father, nurse, volunteer firefighter – given his increasingly serious congenital heart valve condition.
Meet Robert
Many aspects of Robert's life changed forever after he plowed into the side of a house, after falling unconscious at the wheel of his car, a few years back. His wife was by his side during that accident.
Meet George
There are a few things George says he would do differently, as he reflects back to a time prior to being in heart failure. He has been at the PMCC since mid-January and when we spoke to him was in the coronary intensive care unit (CICU) – where some of the most ill of cardiac and vascular patients receive care.