🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. They tell you what kind of square you’re reading. Where you actually track progress is your Prepared Patient Course and the Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Read each square. Deeper detail for each lives in the Prepared Patient Heart Attack (post-MI) course.
What Happened in Your Heart
A clot blocked an artery. Heart muscle died. Now you protect what's left.
Learn ItYour Daily Prevention Stack
Antiplatelet · statin · beta-blocker · ACE/ARB. Each one prevents the next event.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Chest pressure, jaw/arm pain, shortness of breath, sweating — call 911 fast.
Learn ItTriggers & Caution
Cold exertion, big emotional events, stopping meds suddenly, untreated apnea.
Learn ItYour Anatomy Map
Know which artery, which territory, your EF, your stents. It's your map.
Learn ItDual Antiplatelet Therapy
Months to a year of two antiplatelets. Don't stop without cardiologist OK.
Live ItWhen to Use Nitro
Same as CAD. Sit, take sublingual, 5 min, repeat 3x, then 911.
Live ItCardiac Rehab
Single biggest post-MI life-extender available to you. Do it.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Use the Visit Tool. Bring your symptoms, BP, lipid, activity log.
Live ItYour Care Team
Cardiologist + interventionalist + cardiac rehab + PCP + sometimes psychologist.
Live ItTelehealth & Tech
Wearables, home BP cuff, cardiac rehab apps, telehealth follow-ups.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Cardiac rehab fully covered. Generics for most meds. Get help if cost blocks adherence.
Live ItReturn to Work, Driving, Sex
All are timelines, all are individual. Ask your cardiologist.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Post-MI mentors are gold. Reach the patient who just had theirs.
Share ItAdvocate
Many MIs are preventable. Share what you wish you'd known earlier.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Newer antiplatelets, mechanical support, regenerative therapies. Sign up.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
This is the teaching. Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
After a heart attack, prevention is the whole game. Don’t talk yourself out of warning signs.
Handle at home
- Normal post-MI baseline; following cardiac rehab
- Mild fatigue at end of a hard day
- Normal medication side effects
Log it. Stay on meds, BP, lipids, lifestyle.
Call the office / message the portal
- Running low on antiplatelets or statin
- New medication side effect
- Mild swelling, mild new symptoms
Same day. The first year post-MI is high-vigilance.
Urgent / Acute care
- Recurrent angina-like symptoms with exertion
- New shortness of breath with stairs you used to climb
- Palpitations lasting hours
Urgent care. Cardiac symptoms after a heart attack always get a workup.
ER NOW / call 911
- Chest pressure, pain, or tightness at rest
- Pain radiating to jaw, arm, neck, back, or upper abdomen
- Shortness of breath, sweating, nausea with or without chest pain
- Lightheadedness or fainting
Call 911. Chew an aspirin if not allergic and not bleeding. Do not drive yourself.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
Six questions clinicians listen for every time.
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Chest pressure started two hours ago, it’s a 7 worst, came on while sitting at my desk, deep breathing made it worse, nothing helped, and my left jaw is aching too.”
Questions worth asking — what good questions look like
Four that apply to every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Heart Attack (post-MI):
- “How long do I stay on dual antiplatelet therapy — and what happens after?”
- “Am I at my LDL target or do we need to intensify (PCSK9, bempedoic acid)?”
- “When can I resume work, exercise, and sexual activity safely?”
- “Am I in cardiac rehab — or should I be?”
- “What’s our plan for atypical symptoms — what do I treat as serious?”