A Shocking Bit of News

North Miami Beach, FL June 30, 2001 Aaron H.
Schectman

THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then, Opinions pro or con are welcome.

A SHOCKING BIT OF NEWS

Carol called out to me that the Vice President Dick Cheney had a problem
with his heart. I have a problem with that news. It is not because the
Number 2 man in our government has a heart condition. We all had information
about this before he was elected. My problem is concerned with my terror of
surgery, the cutting into flesh and being stuck by needles and such. Even
more horrifying to me is the notion of implantation of a device under the
skin that will deliver shocks to the heart.

Now I can understand all this intellectually. But, memories tell me that it
is not an intellectual problem. When but a small child with pipe stem skinny
arms I remember the huge doctor coming at me with this what I swear was a
foot-long needle that was thicker than one of my fingers. I cringe today at
the thought of that long ago yesterday.

The heart is a muscle, I know. It pumps all the time while you live and
when it stops, you die. In fact, all deaths result in heart failure. The
notion that you can adjust the regularity of its beat and make it go again
when it stops by shocking it is a bit much for me.

Actually, I am a coward when it comes to needles. That was my first
knowledge of vulnerability. My reluctance to having my body sliced and diced
was overcome by the alternative of having heart failure. I have gone into
operations not fully trusting the people in charge of the process. After
all, who are they? Do I know any of them? Would I want to know any of
them? Will we stay connected after the operation?

My final word on the subject is that the idea of a device inserted under
the skin is hard to accept. And they stick this thing into a heart muscle
and this in turn is activated by an electric impulse? I can only think of
androids that are combinations of human and mechanical parts. This gives me
the willies too.
Carol's Evaluation:10 out of 10.