communication breakdown

Dive In

Well, somehow I managed to wake myself up at the god-forsaken hour of 6:00 AM in order to get to my canine implant viewing in time. All in all it was a fascinating experience. The first thing we noticed is how low-key the research laboratory is. I had never been to the research center before, and no wonder - it's nearly impossible to find if you don't know it's there. Even if you find it, you wouldn't know what it was - while it does have the company's name on it, nothing suggests that it's an animal research center. Smart move, in order to keep the PETA-type crazies away. Anyways, we were ushered in, changed into scrubs, then went into the operating room...

The "study" that they were conducting was interesting because it was actually multiple studies being performed with the same dog. They actually implanted two devices and four leads (the wires which deliver therapy from the device to the heart) in the same dog. Unfortunately, since it is a long-term (2-5 year) study, extra precautions have to be taken, and we were not allowed to directly view into the chest as the implants were happening. We spent the whole time standing on a side wall next to the operating table. However, from my perspective, I could see plenty of the operation. I must say that it was amazing to watch the surgeons perform their duties in real-life. I mean, I watch this kind of stuff on ER all the time, but it's quite different in person. Obviously they didn't have to do anything too complex (from what I've heard, pacemaker implants are pretty straightforward), but all I could think was how different their job is from mine. I mean, we're both in the "medical field", true, but... I sit at a desk all day and write computer software, while they spend all day on their feet, with tiny, precise instruments, cutting holes in living creatures and then putting them back together again. It felt very surreal to me, and it took me being there in person to realize how difficult a job it is to be a doctor/surgeon.

Anyways, the entire process took about 3 hours - 2 to implant, and then about an hour of monitoring where they basically just took a bunch of impedance measurements on the leads. The interesting thing about the implant, which I didn't know beforehand, is that they perform an operation called "ablation" on the AV node of the heart, which basically means that they destroy the portion of the heart that generates the natural rhythm and makes intrinsic beating possible - in other words, the ablation makes the canine dependent on the pacemaker in order for its heart to function. They said they completed the surgery in record time. Supposedly the ablation is a touch-and-go procedure that can sometimes take hours - they succeeded on the first try this time, and it only took a couple minutes. For those of you worried about the dog, you should know that they are treated extremely well, and usually heal completely within a couple weeks. While the study was educational for me, in retrospect it wasn't exactly the kind of experience I was looking for, because it focused more on leads (which I don't work on) rather than the devices (which I do). Hopefully next time I'll get an opportunity to view a live human implant, which would be amazing. But that's for another day, I guess....

Switching gears... fantasy football kicks off tomorrow! Our draft starts in the morning and will go for two weeks, ending just in time for the first game of the season. That's when the angels dance joyously in heaven to celebrate one of the greatest days of the year. I know some people don't get football, and fantasy football in particular, but for some of us, it's an obsession, an essential part of life. There's no better time of year than football season. If only they'd stagger NFL/NCAA so there could be football all year round, I think I might explode from satisfaction.

Finally, I'm not going to launch into my political diatribe now (for fear of this update getting way too long), but I feel the need to vent somewhat briefly about the Najaf situation in Iraq. We're pussy-footing around this Mosque over there, allowing this terrorist cleric to dictate how this situation is going to play out, all because we're afraid of public perception and we don't want the Muslims to get angry when "the infidels" step foot in the "holy" Mosque. It's this kind of PC crap that drives me up a wall. We are a great and powerful nation, but sometimes we get so short-sighted and incredibly stupid. We are fighting people who would kill all of us if they could. This is the time to take swift, decisive action, not cower and let the situation fester because some people's feelings might get hurt. O'Reilly had a retired general as a guest on his program tonight who was excellent. He said three very true things:

1. First, all of our successful military campaigns have occurred when we empowered our generals and men in the field to get the job done. It's when politicians get in the way that mistakes happen (see: Vietnam). Too true.
2. Second, he said if he was in charge he would use sleeping gas, knock them all out, then send the Iraqis into the mosque to get them out, so that everyone stays happy. I've been thinking and saying this exact thing for weeks now - as I've always said, this country would be in great shape if they'd just put me in charge.
3. Finally, one of his last comments was priceless:

(paraphrasing)
O'Reilly: But don't you think that Al Qaeda is just waiting for us to step foot in that mosque, or set off one explosion inside of it, and that if we do, we'll just have a bigger problem than before with the Muslims?

(quote)
Gen. Vallely: Well, they'll get over it, Bill.

Perfect. Absolutely true. If this were a less-serious threat, then all proper sensitivity should be employed. But there are armed, uncooperative terrorists who have taken a mosque hostage, supposedly rigged it with explosives, and will not even cooperate with their own people. Everyone's last concern should be whether or not some American walks into a mosque - they should be angered at those using it as a crutch, and hold them to blame if the situation turns out poorly.

OK, enough ranting. More to come on various topics, but I'll save them for another day...