We don't always notice them, but they hold long-range implications for us. Not long ago, heart attacks and other cardiac events killed many of the people who had them. Today, improved treatments save a lot of those lives, but leave patients with weakened heart muscles. Drugs, diet and exercise can sometimes offset the damage, but not for everyone.
Some people face a life that's radically different.
Johns Hopkins Dr. Ed Kasper runs a heart failure support group in Baltimore. They can't do what they did. They can't go to work sometimes. They perhaps were the head of a family and they're no longer the person in charge anymore, their family is now taking care of them. The coping mechanisms have to be supported and nurtured by their physicians and by the people who care for them.