Cardiology (as easy as) 123! — What This Is
Started November 2022. The original promise: translate cardiology from medical language into everyday forms, stay guideline-based, favor what helps people feel better and live longer, keep it simple, no selling.
What it became (2024–2026): A disciplined series covering the tests patients actually get (EKG, echo, stress, cath, MRI), the conditions they're diagnosed with (AFib, heart failure, coronary disease, valve disease), the medications they're prescribed (statins, anticoagulants, beta blockers, SGLT2 inhibitors, GLP-1 agonists), and the decision frameworks clinicians use — but patients never see.
What's next (2027):
- Condition deep-dives: Multi-part series on AFib, heart failure, coronary disease — from first symptom through long-term management
- Test pathways: "You got this result — now what?" flowcharts for common findings (incidentaloma, elevated troponin, reduced EF, new murmur)
- Medication decision guides: Head-to-head comparisons patients actually face (DOAC vs warfarin, statin intensity, SGLT2i in HFpEF, when to stop aspirin)
- Shared decision-making tools: Printable one-pagers patients can bring to appointments
- Cardiology-adjacent: Sleep apnea, kidney disease, thyroid, anemia — the non-cardiac drivers of cardiac presentations
Same constraints: guideline-aligned, no jargon without explanation, no gatekeeping, nothing I wouldn't tell my mother. The Cardiology 123! book (published 2026) is the consolidated reference; the blog is the living, evolving companion.