Exactly 9 months after being conceived, a man is ushered into the world, a world of consuming uncertainties and unknowns.
Where the only certainty is
that life is finite, but as to how and when exactly that is the riddle.
Still, man plods through life
making arithmetic calculations and planning, based on dog-eared standards
refined through the ages
From the age of reason, that
man learns to use Arithmetic to plan and live his life. He plans for the years of elementary, secondary,
etc. schooling, the monotonous cadence interspersed briefly with some levity
and idleness known as vacations, holidays, etc.
Then he plans for his
productive working life, including the idea and feasibility of creating a
family of his own. All this, amidst the uncertainty
of the length of his life, but guided essentially by the life expectancy table
again honed over the ages, taking into account all other elements which may
make that life shorter like accidents, sickness, disease, etc.
Past the peak of his mature
life, typically human parts start needing attention. Some start becoming bothersome and maybe
life-threatening, and thus requiring professional help.
As he approaches closer to
his expected life span, tweaked by the many enhancements and modifications that
blazing science and technology can offer, his arithmetic calculations take on
more certainty, and shorter duration.
In my instance, the most
hardy and robust of human organs, the heart has required special and customized
attention. It has the close assistance of a pacemaker, or more technically an
ICD, implanted cardioverter defibrillator, and for my particular case, a
dual-chamber unit, with two leads, one attached to the upper right atrial chamber, and
the other to the lower ventricular chamber.
Each lead provided with an electrode that will provide the spark when
necessary to keep the heart beating normal.
The upper lead will provide
the electrical spark that is typically provided naturally by the sinus node in
the heart. Absent the spark, the heart
may not beat at all and life will be no more.
In my case, my beating heart
now uses the pacer for the spark needed 98% of the time, while the lower lead
is being used only 6% of time. Per last
examination/reading the implanted pacemaker I have still has an expected
usefulness of 13 years, taking into account its current usage.
All these details put into
context, the more or less exact length of my life. Until and unless a new pacer is installed to
replace the depleted one.
This therefore as one can
clearly see, puts an arithmetic certainty to the end of one’s life.