by Sallie Crawley | Aug 17, 2026 | Confidence, Acceptance & Moving Forward, Emotional Recovery & Mental Health, Physical Recovery & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Podcast, Stories & Inspiration, Tests, Medicines, Treatments & Surgery, Understanding Your Heart & Diagnosis
Today I’m joined by filmmaker Andrew Pike, and we’re talking about something that many people experience after open-heart surgery, but far too many people are left to make sense of on their own. It is often called pumphead, although as you’ll hear in this...
by Sallie Crawley | Aug 3, 2026 | Emotional Recovery & Mental Health, Physical Recovery & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Podcast, Relationships, Family, Carers & Intimacy, Symptoms, Monitoring & Knowing When to Get Help, Tests, Medicines, Treatments & Surgery
Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Is it normal to feel like this?” Perhaps you’ve had a heart attack, heart surgery, a cardiac arrest, or received a cardiac diagnosis, and since then, you’ve been feeling anxious; maybe frightened,...
by Sallie Crawley | Jul 6, 2026 | Emotional Recovery & Mental Health, Physical Recovery & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Podcast, Tests, Medicines, Treatments & Surgery, Understanding Your Heart & Diagnosis
Pumphead and the Heart Brain Connection explained. If you are reading this, you’ve likely survived a major cardiac event and a complex surgery. You’ve been told the surgery was a success, and by all clinical markers, you are “mending.” Yet, inside, things...
by Sallie Crawley | Jun 8, 2026 | Emotional Recovery & Mental Health, Healthy Heart Living & Risk Reduction, Physical Recovery & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Podcast, Symptoms, Monitoring & Knowing When to Get Help, Tests, Medicines, Treatments & Surgery, Understanding Your Heart & Diagnosis
“But mum, you can’t, not like coffee, that’s your signature drink”! Those were the words my daughter said after I told her I didn’t like coffee anymore. It was as much of a surprise for me, as I had always been a coffee snob. I liked it fresh brewed from ground beans,...
by Sallie Crawley | May 25, 2026 | Confidence, Acceptance & Moving Forward, Emotional Recovery & Mental Health, Physical Recovery & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Podcast, Tests, Medicines, Treatments & Surgery
If you are reading this article there is a good chance you are or someone you care about is waiting for heart surgery – whether that’s bypass surgery, valve repair or replacement, a stent, an implantable device, or another cardiac procedure, I want you to know...
by Sallie Crawley | May 11, 2026 | Confidence, Acceptance & Moving Forward, Emotional Recovery & Mental Health, Physical Recovery & Cardiac Rehabilitation, Podcast, Tests, Medicines, Treatments & Surgery, Therapies, Understanding Your Heart & Diagnosis
The fear of mortality is something most humans brush up against at some point in their lives. Usually, it’s fleeting, a passing thought late at night or after a loss. But when you’ve had a cardiac arrest, an implantable device, heart attack, or cardiac surgery,...