Last November I was told that I was going to be needing a defibrillator/pacemaker installed in my heart. I was informed that my heart function was down below 30 percent and that the defibrillator was necessary if I wanted to live a long life. Naturally, this news wasn't something that I wanted to hear and I've kinda had a dark cloud hanging over my head every since. However, against the wishes of my cardiologist, I put off having the pacemaker put in and even sought the opinion of another doctor.
I've had friends and family members inquire about when I was going to be having the surgery, and suffered the admonishments of several of them for not already having the procedure done. I just couldn't accept that my heart was that "sick" because I felt too good. When I go walking, my teenagers have to practically run to keep up with me. In fact, I can walk at a very brisk pace for a very long time. I usually walk about 40 minutes when I go walking and do not ever have any difficulty while doing this exercise.
Well, well, well, we roll ahead a few months, dark clouds of despair and all, and finally I get some different answers or at least clarification on my condition. Come to find out, my records were inadvertently mixed in with someone else with whom I share a surname. Talk about good news! Holy Smokes! I've been handed my life again, or at least told that my heart is not giving out on me as I'd been led to believe. This news has certainly cheered me up and has given me a whole new "lease" on life!
After this whole ordeal I've been reminded of several truths that I already knew and have talked about before. The first truth is; Yep, I'm gonna die one of these days. The second truth is; live every day like it's your last and enjoy your life. We all need to remember that we are all going to die of something, we will not get out of this life alive. Another truth we all need to remember is that these doctors are just as human as anyone else.
Too many people hold doctors to a higher standard than allowed normal human beings and doctors are often vilified when things don't go right or the way we think things should go. My cardiologist is a very good doctor and I will continue to use him when the need arises. I'm more impressed with him now than I was before because at least he can admit to making a mistake, which is something a lot of doctors would never do. I can't say as I blame the doctors for never admitting error, I wouldn't either if I had the slobbering blood sucking lawyers after me all the time. None the less, I'm more impressed with this man now and if anything he just earned more of my respect and trust.
You know, I might die of a heart attack one of these days. That is if I don't get hit by lightning, run over by a train, die of cancer, drown, get shot, or die of some other insidious disease or freak accident. We are all going to eventually keep our appointment with God and we need to live our lives in such a way that we will have no regrets. I wrote, several posts ago, about living my life and not standing by and missing out on things. What a shame for us to die and having never really lived. Lets all get out and enjoy our family and friends and quit putting off doing the things we really want to do. I had a guy tell me one time, "life is not a rehearsal, you only get to live once so you might as well go do what ever it is you dream of doing." I think that's a pretty good way to look at things, if you ask me.
Maybe now I'll have longer to bash our politicians and "grouch" about the way thing are.
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