I'm starting to get out more. Unfortunately, it has been mainly to medical destinations. It is nice to finally get out, but I think I'm starting to get on Donna's nerves. I have another medical appointment in a few weeks and I fear she will bringing my "living will" and "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" directive with her - passing it out to every healthcare worker in the place...several times. I hope she doesn't interfere too much with the care...I need to have the dental hygienist clean my teeth.
A few days ago I went to my doctor to have a pro-time test done. The test checks the efficacy of a blood thinner drug I'm taking due to a cardiac arrhythmia. It prevents clots passing through the heart chambers which I'm told is a very, very bad thing.
Got to thinking, I've been getting the test done monthly for a long time, but couldn't exactly remember how long. I do remember that I included the initial finding in a Christmas newsletter we put out and checked the computer files for past ones. The newsletter went back to 2002 so it has been a while. I don't know what it means when you have to reference newsletters to remember important things in your life, but there you have it. Hopefully, I wrote about our marriage and the birth of our son in one of those old ones.
Anyway, thought I would include it even though it was from 2002.
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"This year I seemed to have settled into a more evenhanded and certain life. I approach things in a mature and thoughtful way. A keeper of the routine. In other words, I've become more like my dog. I get excited by food and in a few more years I'm sure I'll expect to be taken out for a walk.
President George Bush (the senior) and I have the same cardiac guy! During a routine physical exam last winter, my check engine light came on. My regular physician, Dr. James, sent me to a cardiologist, Dr. Englehardt, who explained that my heart chambers were working fine except for one that didn't quite pump - it vibrated - like a Skytel pager. During my first and subsequent exams, Dr. Englehardt kept being interrupted with phone calls from around the world. It seems he consults a lot. The number of phone calls got to be so much he gave me the story.
He was a resident at John Hopkins, the very junior member of a senior cardiac team that diagnosed and treated George Bush when he was President...ditto the connection. During Dr. Englehardt's residency, a medical research team was doing studies on some aspect of elderly cardiology and since baboons' hearts are just like human hearts, they were using baboons to do so. Who knew. I didn't ask if they lounged around in the day room wearing old cardigans and smoking cigars...the baboons that is. To make a long story short, the gerontology teams needed a baseline on EKGs. And guess what. No one had ever done EKGs on baboons! Being the junior member, Dr. Englehardt was chosen to analye the EKG results. He took out a calculator, averaged numbers of all those tested, and whallah!...became an international expert. He published a paper on this in a medical journal so now zoos call him every time J Fred Muggs overdoses on bananas or whenever I have an appointment. I wonder if their exams ever get interrupted."
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