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Do you believe that God planted you in the right place and the right time even when you wish you could be transported into a different place in time?

There are moments in my life where I would like to be able go to a Star Trek transporter room and be beamed to another planet.  Sometimes it’s because all the electronics in my life seem to be bombarding me at once: texting, email, computers, media to name just a few.  Now more than ever we seem to be driven by our equipment – you know the ones that are supposed to make your life easier and free up your time?

Beam me up, Scotty!

I told you my 10 year C-Pap machine recently informed me that it’s “motor had outlived its life expectancy”.  I wondered if my heart had outlived its life expectancy also.  Then I read my cardiologist’s office notes where he described  me as an 87 year old woman!  You wonder what he’s seeing when he examines me… Is God trying to send me a message?

With the aid of some incredible technological wonders I am able to live a life that my predecessors did not survive in the time they lived.

• In 1968 my 48 year old father died from aortic stenosis before he was able to have one of the first bypass surgeries and aortic repairs with Dr Michael DeBakey. Christiaan Barnard would perfect the first heart transplant about the same time.
• My paternal grandmother suffered with heart disease as a young woman. Not much is known as to her history but family rumors of shortness of breath, tiredness, weakness made me believe that she may have had the very same issues I recently dealt with: coronary artery disease and Bradycardia-Tachycardia Syndrome (heart slows, heart speeds), systolic pauses (heart stops beating) and Atrial Fibrillation (irregular upper chamber heart beat).  Had she been living in today’s era; bypass grafts and pacemaker implants would have lengthened her life beyond her 38 years of age.
• Thad’s father had chronic myelogenous leukemia and suffered for many years without the benefit of targeted therapies and medications that exist today. Because of the lack of these innovations Thad’s father died at 48 as well.
• My grandmother, my mother, my maternal aunt all lost their fight with breast cancer. There were just not enough therapies beyond surgery, radiation and a few medicines and chemotherapies.   Today because there are so many therapies available and more coming on line; my two cousins and I are now living with the same type of breast cancer and is considered to be a “chronic disease”.  It blows the mind at the technological and medical advancements that have been made in a relatively short amount of time.  Just not in time to save our mothers.

But back to the technology thing: there is so much that goes along with these new therapies because so much of it is enhanced by technology. My new C-Pap machine has the ability to communicate directly with my physician without me bringing it into their office.  The settings can be change with a mere phone call and it  has its own Smart Phone App.  Of course I needed to register it and go through a few prompts to sync it all to come alive.  But hey, its young, sleek and keeps me breathing.

They used a stress test (treadmill) and injectable dye to visualize what my arteries were doing.   I was hooked up to a computer screen that showed exactly how my heart and arteries (plumbing basically) were doing and digitally sent it to the physician to read.  They confirmed that my heart’s “plumbing” and ten year old bypass grafts were still good and in fine shape.  At least something is working well in this body.

To find the culprit of my symptoms they hooked me up to a Holter Monitor that had virtually no wires!  Remember when you were attached to about twelve different leads that were bundled together and put in a fanny pack which you carried around with you, slept with you and generally made you miserable?  This little device was attached to my chest above my heart like a large band aid and then it communicated to a cell phone I carried with me recording the activity of my heart. While I couldn’t go swimming with it, I could shower as normal.  Within five days they were able to spot that my heart’s electrical system was slowing down to the point of stopping. Basically my electrical system was worn out.

Today, I sport a pacemaker implanted under the skin which regulates my heart beat.  I also came home with a machine that sits by my bed and automatically transmits information from my pacemaker to technicians that are overseeing this remarkable device.  It even came with, yes, you guessed it, its own Smart Phone App.  Of course, it too, had to be “set up”.

Yes, today we are bombarded with a plethora of technology that invades our space, steals our time, distracts us from what we want to do or should do and we will be forever monitored.  It’s a little like Big Brother is watching.

I do feel a bit like Star Trek’s The Next Generation –  Data (a self-aware, sapient, sentient and anatomically fully functional male android).  After all, I have two hip prosthesis and now a pacemaker implant – and I need to routinely go in for adjustments – just like Data.

But hey, I am no longer alternating between shortness of breath, exhaustion, slugging through the day like  molasses pouring from a bottle.  Nor do I feel  like I am going to pass out.  I beginning to have energy to ride my bike, play with my grandkids, take my dog for long walks, and nag my husband about doing a house project.  Heck, I might even chase him around the bed.

Yeah, I’m back.

I am grateful to be living in a time such as this.  Today oftentimes what ails you can be found and fixed.  Not everything has a cure but can you imagine where we will be in another 20 years?  Though I may not be here in 20 years, I thank God for placing me where He has.  I am grateful to those men and women who use their God-given talents to research, study and work for the betterment of our health and our lives.

Technology – I can live with that.

 

Thank you for reading my post.  If you have found it encouraging please consider liking, commenting or sharing it.  Feel free to even re-blog – may these words take flight!

I have additional insights I’d love to share with you found in the pages of my debut book: Surviving Medical Mayhem – Laughing When It Hurts.  To order a copy or learn more go to my website at www.lorettaschoen.com

 

Blessings for Health & Wellness.