I'm Shocked

So, I spent most of Monday at the hospital with my brother.

He had a defibrillator implanted in his chest.

I kept trying to get a photo of the device, but the doctors and technicians wouldn’t let me in the operating room, even though I was emphatically declaring my desire and ability to assist.

Relegated to the waiting room, I devised a new strategy. I would have to get my photo after he came out into recovery. It seems they are pretty protective of their own x-ray machines, so I had to smuggle in one of my own. Fortunately, I still had mine in the back of the pickup. After a bit of a struggle getting it up the back stairway, I managed to distract the staff long enough to snap the shot I wanted.

That electronic gizmo you see buried in the left shoulder is about the size of a pocket watch and has wires running through a vein right to the heart.

If his heart experiences a problem, such as beating like crazy on the bottom half (I’m pretty sure that was the technical explanation), then this implanted defibrillator will send an electric shock to his heart. This makes the heart realize it is behaving badly and immediately corrects its behavior. Come to think of it, that’s what my dog’s shock collar does too.

Anyway, as I understand it, this thing is basically the same as those paddles you see on medical dramas that cause people to yell, “CLEAR” whenever they are about to apply them to someone’s chest. I read the whole user’s manual for Larry’s new device. I don’t think he has to yell, “CLEAR”.

It’s good to see Larry back at work and starting to enjoy more of his usual activities. He has decided to set some new goals for himself. His main goal, for now, is to see what it takes to actually set this thing off.

I guess it’s ok if it never does anything. He kept the receipt.