O.T.--Just spoke to a guy who died two years ago---HuH???

[brian Rupnow]

I was down at the x-ray clinic this morning getting a picture taken of my pet kidney stone. A fellow I know who used to be shop foreman for a company I worked at about 17 years ago came up and spoke to me. I haven't seen this fellow for two or three years, and I asked how he had been. He said "I'm doing okay now, but I've had to retire since I died two years ago."--I'm sure that I gave him a very strange look at this statement. He went on to explain that he had been in a severe car accident two years ago and was "clinically dead" at the scene, but the responding paramedics had revived him. That may qualify for one of the strangest statements I have hear in my 71 years.---Brian

[danlb]

It's not that strange. I've said it once or twice, though in my case they had lowered my body temp and stopped my heart for 45 minutes so that they could do a valve job on it. Not sure how dead I was, but they did have to manually shock the heart to restart it, so I figured it was close enough.

Dan
Each day you wake up is a good day.

[MichaelP]

"Brian, are you OK? Brian! Brian! Someone, call 911!"

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.(c)

[A.K. Boomer]

I thought I died for awhile last night - chicken with rice chips and garlic hummus dip and two IPA's and then about a half hour later the smell was unbearable - kept saying to myself "I seriously cannot still be alive" over and over again....

[Highpower]

Bravo A.K.

[Dan_the_Chemist]

I've been talking with dead people for years....

[Toolguy]

Yep - Salem, MA is the perfect place for that to originate, considering the witch trials and all.

[CCWKen]

My cardiologist said I would have to die for about hour while they replaced my aortic valve. I've had a heart murmur ever since I can remember. Turns out to be a deformed valve that's not opening all the way. The only way to fix it is to replace it. But I'll probably loose my taste for bacon if I do.

[Mister ED]

My cardiologist said I would have to die for about hour while they replaced my aortic valve. I've had a heart murmur ever since I can remember. Turns out to be a deformed valve that's not opening all the way. The only way to fix it is to replace it. But I'll probably loose my taste for bacon if I do.

Please have someone ready to take a video, the first time you walk near a mud puddle.

[fjk]

Yep - Salem, MA is the perfect place for that to originate, considering the witch trials and all.

And the Peabody Essex museum is
pretty good (no machining, but still)
And the (Nathaniel) Hawthorne hotel
has an excellent restaurant.

... at least on days other than 31 October ;-)

[danlb]

My cardiologist said I would have to die for about hour while they replaced my aortic valve. I've had a heart murmur ever since I can remember. Turns out to be a deformed valve that's not opening all the way. The only way to fix it is to replace it. But I'll probably loose my taste for bacon if I do.

Ken,

I'm not second guessing your doctor, but there are multiple cures for a a deformed valve. I went to a specialist who did nothing but valve repairs to fix my prolapsed mitral valve. He told me that if my case was not a good candidate for repair, he'd refer me to someone who specialized in replacement. His procedure involved attaching a dacron "valve seat" and reshaping the material that made up the valve itself. The procedure was successful with no side effects, no drugs to take and it should be good for life.

According to my GP, doctors who specialize in replacement tend to think only in those terms, and those who do repair tend to do the same, so it's worthwhile to check with more than one specialist.

Dan

[brian Rupnow]

Heart valves---Interesting. I once had a reputable doctor tell me that if the choice came down to either a pigs valve or a stainless steel ball and seat type valve, to choose the pig valve because it was quiet. He said there was documented proof that people with the stainless steel ball and seat valve go insane waiting for the next "click" of the stainless valve. This was about 30 or 40 years ago, and it was information that I just filed away with about a billion other bits of trivia. I'm sure the technology has changed a tremendous amount since then, and I never really thought about what that doctor had said until reading these posts.

[mickeyf]

doctors who specialize in replacement tend to think only in those terms, and those who do repair tend to do the same

This same principle is true in most (all?) fields. We get into our particular rut with our particular blinders on. "When your most used tool is a hammer, nothing looks like a Robertson screw any more"... Or something like that.

[danlb]

Heart valves---Interesting. I once had a reputable doctor tell me that if the choice came down to either a pigs valve or a stainless steel ball and seat type valve, to choose the pig valve because it was quiet. He said there was documented proof that people with the stainless steel ball and seat valve go insane waiting for the next "click" of the stainless valve. This was about 30 or 40 years ago, and it was information that I just filed away with about a billion other bits of trivia. I'm sure the technology has changed a tremendous amount since then, and I never really thought about what that doctor had said until reading these posts.

I'm sure the tech has changed since my surgery in '99. Back then, the metal valves tended to damage some of the blood cells that are battered by the valve as it swished from one position to another. Damaged cells are more likely to cause a clot. Thus the need for blood thinners to minimize the possibility of a stroke.

Maybe things are better now?

Dan

[woodenbird]

I had my aortic valve replaced 4 yrs ago with a pig valve. Found out that the metal valves are more subject to infection even if they last longer. I was born with a mis-shapen valve. Apparently now they have developed implantable valves making replacements much easier.