Well, I’m frantically trying to learn anything about anything having to do with this dumb pump that’s responsible for keeping me (and you!) alive. It’s a little embarrassing, but I’ve never been one to fully appreciate or marvel at a good chunk of medical technology (I know, is that completely awful given my chosen profession?? I think it just says more about me being a complete technophobe). However, I’ve found myself being swept up with some of this cardio stuff, like when we watched a video on induced pluripotent stem cells becoming heart muscle…actually able to beat on their own! Can you imagine the possibilities that can have for heart repair?!
Now I’m reading about some older technology: electronic pacemakers. We, or at least I, can easily take advantage of how jaw-dropping the concept is–after all, there is pretty much no medical drama out there that doesn’t feature at least a patient a season with some sort of synthetic pace-making device. What I’m learning is that not only do these implants sense cardiac activity and stimulate beats in response, they also record useful information, like the amount of pacing required, whether increasingly faster rates can be sensed (indicating particular disease states), etc. Then, an external radio frequency programming device (jigga what??) is used to “interrogate” the pacemaker to obtain such information, and adjust pacing accordingly. Even a technophobe like me can recognize the cool factor here.
Please wish me luck tomorrow. I feel like my heart is skipping a beat. <sigh> To think of all the puns I could have made this block, and now it’s 27 hours from being over…
anna in med school 