Day 8: Guard your heart
“Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:23
Inasmuch as it depends on us, survivors, we must guard our hearts. What does that look like?
- Know your family’s health history (early MI, sudden cardiac death, heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and/or lipids)
- Know your cancer treatment-related risks (Doxorubicin, Daunomycin, Epirubicin, Idarubicin, Mitoxantron, Valrubicin and/or chest radiation)
- Know you heart health numbers
- Know and comply with recommendations specific to your treatment-related risk factors
You can begin by taking the ‘MyLifeCheck” quiz developed by the American Heart Association: <<CLICK HERE>>.
Your Survivorship Care Plan will list the chemotherapy you received to cure your cancer. If any one of the anthracyclines is listed and/or you received radiation to your chest, then there are specific recommendations to help you guard your heart.
<<CLICK HERE>> (English)
<<CLICK HERE>> (Spanish)
The Children’s Oncology Group also provides information to help you and your PCP assess you risk for treatment-related cardiotoxicity and maximize your heart health:
<<CLICK HERE>>
Finally, here is the latest from Juan Carlos Plana, MD, Cardio-Oncology @ the Cleveland Clinic Foundation:
Cardiovascular Health of Patients With Cancer and Cancer Survivors: A Roadmap to the Next Level
Survivors, let get busy guarding our hearts, the wellspring of life.
Simply
Stephanie
Tweet
Leave a Reply