The technician put a programming wand (resembles a large mixing spoon with a hole in the center on the end of a cord attached to a monitor) around my neck and dropped it over my left shoulder to where my new pacemaker (installed in January 2015) is and then instantly removed it.
"What's wrong?", I inquired. I've had a pacemaker for over six years and when it is checked (about twice a year) the wand was used throughout the check.
"Nothing is wrong. See this antenna on top of the monitor? It is reading your pacemaker by Wi-fi." The brief use of the wand established a connection between my pacemaker and the monitor.
This was not the only surprise awaiting me. The second technician asked if I would like her to monitor my pacemaker continuously from home by telephone. She explained, and I signed on. Some equipment will come in the mail which I will hook it up to the house phone and it will be connected to a computer monitored by the technician. We had some friendly banter about her staying awake 24/7 to monitor me and she assured me it wouldn't be that intimate.
Progress is always underway. Some pacemakers currently have a battery with a 8 to 10 year life expectancy. Swiss scientists are testing to see if the heart itself could power the pacemaker and make batteries obsolete.
A fellow retiree in Arlington,VA, told me this story recently:
It has been annoyingly windy up here all week long, preventing me from flying. And here is where our story begins....
In search of simulated flight today, I headed to Leesburg to use the school's full motion simulator. With a head full of aeronautical thoughts I set out on Interstate 66, west....
Traveling down I-66 west at the speed limit, because that is how I drive, I was being passed rather frequently by cars and SUVs driven by self absorbed very important people on their way to big and important meetings.
I was driving in the right inner lane of the four lanes. Over in the fast lane was a large truck loaded with all sorts of lawn care equipment. Positioned on top of the pile of equipment were two heavy duty wheelbarrows. They were positioned such that the tops of the wheelbarrows were facing downward.
I was boxed in by speeding cars to my left and right with another behind me coming up fast. Not wanting to be reared ended, I slowed and fortunately the guy behind me slowed too. We came to a rapid halt as the wheelbarrow now cascading down the interstate headed right for my car.
It must have bounced 5 or 6 times before coming to a halt about 3 feet in front of my car as I stopped. The wheelbarrow was perfectly upright.
Think about that: worked all these years and learned to fly only to be killed by a flying wheelbarrow--on the way to the airport. Not a way to go.....
I pulled off the road and saw two men get out of a truck behind me and push the wheelbarrow off the road. As for the truck that lost the wheelbarrow, he never slowed down.
Progress is always underway. Some pacemakers currently have a battery with a 8 to 10 year life expectancy. Swiss scientists are testing to see if the heart itself could power the pacemaker and make batteries obsolete.
A fellow retiree in Arlington,VA, told me this story recently:
It has been annoyingly windy up here all week long, preventing me from flying. And here is where our story begins....
G |
In search of simulated flight today, I headed to Leesburg to use the school's full motion simulator. With a head full of aeronautical thoughts I set out on Interstate 66, west....
Traveling down I-66 west at the speed limit, because that is how I drive, I was being passed rather frequently by cars and SUVs driven by self absorbed very important people on their way to big and important meetings.
I was driving in the right inner lane of the four lanes. Over in the fast lane was a large truck loaded with all sorts of lawn care equipment. Positioned on top of the pile of equipment were two heavy duty wheelbarrows. They were positioned such that the tops of the wheelbarrows were facing downward.
I was boxed in by speeding cars to my left and right with another behind me coming up fast. Not wanting to be reared ended, I slowed and fortunately the guy behind me slowed too. We came to a rapid halt as the wheelbarrow now cascading down the interstate headed right for my car.
It must have bounced 5 or 6 times before coming to a halt about 3 feet in front of my car as I stopped. The wheelbarrow was perfectly upright.
Think about that: worked all these years and learned to fly only to be killed by a flying wheelbarrow--on the way to the airport. Not a way to go.....
