heart condition

Day 4821: Reframing

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Ann Koplow

As I’m reframing my intentions for today’s blog post, here’s a definition of “reframing”:

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Yesterday, I was working on reframing this old narrative of mine: When I put myself out there in a new and confident way, disaster results. The “evidence” I have for this old story includes:

  • Feeling happy, powerful, and confident at age 7; soon after spending years of emotional and physical pain in hospitals because of my rare heart condition.
  • Confidently sharing my song Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole with strangers on a trip to Georgia; the next day landing on the hospital with a mini-stroke/TIA.
  • Feeling happy about my upcoming appearance on the podcast Therapist Uncensored; my next INR blood reading being inexplicably and dangerously low.

I work on reframing unhelpful, obsolete, and inaccurate narratives with myself and with my patients in therapy. These old narrative can be very sticky, so reframing can be a life-long practice.

Do you see reframing in my images for today?

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Here’s what I find when I search for “reframing” on YouTube:

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Thanks to all who are here for my daily reframing, including YOU!

Categories: heart condition, original song, personal growth, photojournalism, Psychotherapy | Tags: , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Day 4819: Suspense

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Ann Koplow

We’re in suspense about so much these days, including inept and corrupt leadership, war, and climate change.

I’m in suspense about people getting back to me, the clicking noises when I talk, what’s going to happen with my music (I dreamt about it last night!), and whether my INR is going to rebound to a safer level today.

I don’t want to keep you in suspense about what images I’m going to share.

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Here’s what I find when I search for “suspense” on YouTube:

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There’s no suspense about whether I’m going to thank you at the end of this blog post, is there?

Categories: heart condition, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Day 4785: A Little Life

Posted on February 7, 2026 by Ann Koplow

On the recommendation of a social work intern who is co-facilitating a Coping and Healing group with me, I’m listening to the audiobook of A Little Life.

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A Little Life is not a little book, and it tackles big themes including trauma, child abuse, love, friendship, and art.

At the same time that I’m listening to many harrowing descriptions in A Little Life, I am living my own little life to the best of my ability.

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When I attended another Open Mic in my little life last night, I performed this original song:

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Here’s what I find when I search for “a little life” on YouTube.

I wonder if I’ll get to see that in my little life?

Thanks to all who share a little life with me here, including YOU!

Categories: heart condition, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Day 4702: Numbers

Posted on November 16, 2025 by Ann Koplow

While my son, Aaron — who is currently working on his PhD in Mathematics —1st expressed a preference for numbers when he was 7, I prefer words.

However, not 2 put 2 fine a point on it b4 I get to the photos I want to share, I need 2 track numbers to stay alive, especially my INR.

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For me (who got a mechanical heart valve in 2016), the numbers for my specific target are actually a smaller range (2.7 – 3.5) because I had 1 TIA in 2022 when my INR was 2.4.

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Every 2nd 2sday I need to check my INR, and I spend the approximately 15 seconds waiting for the results worrying that my numbers will be below 2.7 and I will need to inject 2 of these a day …

… until my INR goes above 2.8.

Anyway, I don’t enjoy keeping track of those numbers or these numbers these days:

  1. How many people are listening to my music,
  2. How many people are reading my blog,
  3. How many people are answering my posts on Twitter,

especially if the numbers are low, since I then feel I should do something 2 make them higher.

I am now going 2 practice radical acceptance about all my numbers as I share a number of photos I took yesterday. Before I do, I am going 2 ask you 2 guess 2 things: (1) Will there be a higher number of animals photos or food photos? and (2) How many photos will have numbers in them?

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Now, let’s see the numbers of World Observances listed for 11/16/25 (written as 16/11/25 in a number of different places).

Both of those lists have 6 items and I have 2 decide which 1 I am going 2 share on social media. As my teacher Mrs. Whitman used 2 say in the 6th grade, “it’s 6 of 1, half a dozen of the other.”

Here’s what I find when I search for “numbers” on YouTube:

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Thanks 2 the numbers of people who are here for this numbers post, including YOU!

Categories: heart condition, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Day 4658: Good News

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Ann Koplow

In my Coping and Healing group yesterday, somebody shared some unexpected good news. Because good news has been difficult to find on the news lately, I suggested a mindfulness exercise where we all allowed our minds to settle on good news.

I also got the good news yesterday that my single Artificial Intelligence has been successfully scheduled for release on November 7. The good news is that gives me plenty of time to pitch Artificial Intelligence to Spotify playlist editors. The good news is that whether or not they recommend it, I’m happy with the song.

More good news: a year ago today I got my most recent in a long line of implantable cardiac devices that have kept me alive, healthy, and singing a song for 62 good years!

Do you see good news in my images for today?

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Let’s see if there’s any good news on YouTube.

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My fear is that the current USA administration is undoing a lot of that good news but … we shall see.

Please share your good news in the comments section, below.

Thanks to all those who are good news to me, including YOU!

Categories: group therapy, heart condition, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Day 4645: Too Much

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Ann Koplow

In my therapy groups this week, people shared that there was too much going on in the news and in their lives. Because there was too much to talk about, it almost took too much effort on my part to make sure that each group ended on time.

Yesterday I had too much to do, including individual therapy, group therapy, supervision, sharing my music, connecting with friends, preparing for future protests, and going to my yearly visit with one of my cardiologists.

I hope there’s not too much in today’s post.

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Who thinks there is too much on that list of World Observances?

Here’s a song I wrote about having too much to do when there is too much going on:

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I had to do too much to successfully share that video here, but I don’t want to say too much about that.

Is it too much for me to ask for comments, below?

Thanks to all who help me deal with too much, including YOU!

Categories: heart condition, life in the USA, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Day 4585: The Most Curious Thing

Posted on July 22, 2025 by Ann Koplow

The most curious thing about the USA is how people reelected Donald Trump as President.

The most curious thing about ChatGPT is how it helps me while I’m waiting for INR results and other things.

The most curious thing about that last paragraph is that “INR” links to the blog post I wrote in 2016 after my heart valve replacement surgery, rather than a simple definition of INR.

What is the most curious thing in this blog post?

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The most curious thing is the nostalgia I am feeling about this song I wrote last year about EPIC, the hospital’s Electronic Health Record System.

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The most curious thing is that you are here for these random thoughts, feelings, pictures, and songs I publish every day!

Categories: heart condition, life in the USA, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Day 4550: What’s wrong with me?

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Ann Koplow

When people ask the question “What’s wrong with me?” in therapy, I always reply “nothing.”

Of course, that doesn’t prevent me from asking the same question about myself.

Last night, I asked “What’s wrong with me?” when I realized that I had forgotten to take my medications on Sunday night. That’s the second time in a couple of months that I’ve forgotten. What’s wrong with that? I need to take my warfarin every day to maintain consistent blood clotting because of my mechanical valve.

Because it doesn’t help to ask “What’s wrong with me?” and it does help to take my warfarin every day, from now on I’m going to double check whether I’ve taken my pills every night before I go to bed.

Is there anything wrong with these images?

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I also asked “What’s wrong with me?” last night when my song “Castrophizing” didn’t get much of a response from the Open Mic audience at the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. Here’s a performance of “Catastrophizing” from last year, when I wasn’t asking “What’s wrong with me?”

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Who else has ever asked themselves “What’s wrong with me?”

Repeat the answer with me: Nothing!

Thanks to all who are here for this what’s-wrong-with-me post, including YOU!

Categories: heart condition, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Day 4521: Being assertive

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Ann Koplow

In my therapy groups, people often talk about being assertive, including setting limits and saying “no” to things they don’t want to do.

Because I’ve had to be compliant with many medical treatments (including yucky medication and surgery) since I was very young, being assertive can sometimes feel unfamiliar and even dangerous. At the same time, there have been times when not being assertive has been dangerous — like when I informed doctors that I thought my pacemaker was failing and was told that I was just anxious and to forget about it (and my pacemaker was failing).

This week I’ve been being assertive with an anticoagulant nurse and also a music distribution service. I’m also being assertive with myself by telling myself it’s okay to be assertive.

My husband Michael has a bit he does about being assertive. He’ll tell me a story about a situation where he spoke up assertively and when I ask if he really said that, he replies, “No, what I really said was ‘here’s my ass.’”

Is anyone being assertive in my images for today?

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Here’s what I find when I search for “being assertive” on YouTube:

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What does being assertive mean to you?

Thanks to all who help me in being assertive, including YOU!

Categories: group therapy, heart condition, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Day 4355: Breakdowns

Posted on December 4, 2024 by Ann Koplow

I know many people are trying to avoid breakdowns as we approach feared breakdowns in the USA system of government.

Last night, I had a dream in which I had several breakdowns because our beloved cat Joan seemed to fall down from the ledge of a skyscraper. I kept breaking down as I tried to make my way back to the top of the building in the hopes that she hadn’t really fallen. In this nightmare I also worried about how I was going to break down the tragic loss of Joan in this blog.

Right now, Joan is trying to break down the door of the bedroom because she wants to be fed.

What breakdowns do you see in my images for today?

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I just asked for this breakdown on Twitter:

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In a few minutes, I’m going to use my home monitoring system for a breakdown of my blood’s coagulation, which I have to measure at least every two weeks because I take Warfarin. Two weeks ago, I had a mini-breakdown because the number was too low; last week it was too high. When I got a pedicure last weekend, I thought the manicurist was going to have a breakdown when she nicked my toe and it wouldn’t stop bleeding.

I don’t know how to break down what increases views on social media, but here are my two latest TikTok videos of Joan.

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Thanks to all who help me deal with breakdowns, including YOU!

Categories: 2024 USA elections, heart condition, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

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