Brian’s Reflection: Friday, May 29, 2009

Serial: HT6252
Model: 2700
Size: 25mm
Position: Aortic
Material: Bovine


- Identification of the heart valve, replaced
in me on this date, 2002


It seems that a lot of the things that have been seriously wrong with me health-wise have been “genetic”, i.e., I was born with them. Bi- instead of tri-valve aortic valve; hole in my heart; diverticulitis, in an unusually long colon. Perhaps the only major thing that I wasn’t born with was a very diseased gall bladder; that I can attribute to myself via Dr. Atkins and his diet – I did lose 70 pounds, but it later had a price. All that lovely fat one could eat, you know! (During those years, my friends would often ask me if I would like some bread with my butter!)

So, now I carry around the little card on which the aortic valve info is recorded. (I have, as well, one for the disks that were implanted in my heart to close the hole.) Just in case something “goes wrong”. But that isn’t the main reason I carry them around, and see them when I am ruffling through my wallet for my credit card or my Starbucks card (which Dennis, bless his heart, occasionally “tops up”). I carry it to remind myself of four things: (a) to be grateful for medical science (b) to be grateful for every day I have alive (c) to enjoy every day as much as I can (d) to try and be the person I want to be.

Some people are known to decry replacing parts of the body, on theological grounds. I can only say to that, that once you take an Aspirin, you are on the Slippery Slope! And if I am in a “mood”, I quote Scripture and claim Divine sanction: “I shall take away your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”. (My aortic valve was calcified, and I got cow flesh - hee, hee!)

You will get my point. Life is an amazing thing. It is breathtaking that, with all the intricate things that could go wrong, most of the time the brain and body function stunningly well – and repair themselves too.

Almost everyone I know has a body “implant” – even if it’s a filling or a capped tooth. Whatever it is, it’s a message. Don’t waste any of the three score and ten. Relish every minute.

Brian+