PATIENT, HEAL THYSELF

Recalling an old and obscure adage learned many years ago, and which to this day has not really gained much traction or acceptance.  That still in any final analysis, your health or medical condition is best served and attended to by yourself.  And not by any other.

Especially in these uncommon times when medical services are being pushed toward the path of dreaded rationing, resulting in shortened and less frequent visits and care.  We are beginning to witness situations where  harried medical professionals can only devote or do so much or so little for each individual case, caused by unprovided piles of cases caused not only by exploding populations but by such catastrophic calamities as pandemics, shooting wars,  natural disasters, etc.

Realizing such incumbency, one is then disposed to undertake personal analyses and assessment of one's own overall health, in light of these impending shortfalls.  And one already in his waning years, has to also contend with the many concomitant  issues inherent to the geriatric phase of life  Current technologies have of course made this task easier and more accessible. Within reach by most everybody in the world today.

And this we, both I and the wife, try to do with our own situations, hobbled a bit by our having to travel from afar to have access to medical care.

Thus so far, we are in the midst of those required visits, eschewed as they have been because of the ongoing pandemic and its constraining mandates world-wide.  But so far, things continue to be okay and we continue to be upbeat.

And we certainly take full advantage of the shortened visits,  encouraged by some preparation and being attentive to the facts and advice coming from the health providers.  And this attitude has been quite helpful and productive for our purposes, resulting not only in timely and efficient medical care, but one as affordable as it can get during these times.

In the case of the wife, she has been a given a clean bill of health for all her prior issues and a thorough-enough going-over of the likely events she can expect will eventually visit her life at these latter stages.

Mine gets a little more complicated, having gone through more medical gauntlets, aggravated by an age seniority of close to a decade.  

A life lived with  pacemakers (2) for over 15 years, one among a score of medical experiences, may not reveal much from the outside.  But one never gets used to the idea that a man-made device hums inside of you, ever watchful and needful when the expected challenges show up.  The device may be viewed as so wonderful, reliable and awe-inspiring,  but still one cannot disregard the fact that it is coming from the fragile hands of man who is heir to errors and failures.  Still a far cry from our body and its life which were designed, created, and sustained by a Higher Power.

Anyway, I too was given a good report on that score.  Rather, the device inside of me which is powered by a long-lasting battery got the good report.  Functioning as designed and configured electronically, save for one issue, or make that, two.

The lesser and not so new finding has been that usage on the atrial lead has been maintained at 100 percent, while the ventricular one is still at 6 to 9 percent.  To explain, it simply means for the function of the atrium that my heart is now completely assisted by the pacer.  It now relies fully on the pacer for that electrical spark to initiate its pumping function.  The crutch is now deployed on a permanent basis.  Not a very good development!

While that may not be a rosy revelation, the other one may be just as grim.  The charge left in the battery as signaled by the interrogation, could suggest that there is an unexpected accelerated discharge that could be caused by one factor that is hydrogen-induced.  And this accelerated depletion could render the pacemaker inoperative.

Or quoted exactly,  "...exhibiting hydrogen-induced accelerated battery depletion."

Language couched in such a manner as to immediately trigger countless questions from any typical patient hearing it for the first time.  Huh?  But I kept quiet and deposited that in my best memory cells.  And the session  ended as the unmentioned (but understood) alloted time came to a close.

Thankfully, it was found that the pacemaker installed in me was not among those models or versions flagged by the advisory.

Still we will continue to monitor the accelerated depletion to forestall any catastrophic incident brought upon by a dead battery.

And in the quiet of my room, I learned more than enough about the latest developments  and made my notes. 

Quietened and assured in the fact that life is proceeding with sufficient foreknowledge and design.

For that is the lot of man.  He proposes, but God disposes.