Better Ablate Than Never

Tony Stark recharges his transistor-powered Iron Man armor, with built-in pacemaker

My first post-afib appointment is coming up next week. I was fortunate to have the latest treatment, called pulsed field ablation, performed at Mass General. This video starts with an explanation of my cardiologist’s analysis on the long-term safety of the procedure.

I’ve been asked several times if I feel better since being taken out of afib. That’s a tough question to answer, because I was asymptomatic when diagnosed, not only with afib but also cancer.

At the start of 2024, my focus had been on my weak ankle, aggravated by my return to a regular, albeit modest, running schedule. Everything changed with the diagnoses, the cancer surgery, then the terrible treatments.

Six months after chemo and radiation, I had the delayed ablation. After recovering from the anesthesia, I felt the same as before the procedure. A couple of weeks later, I woke up one morning and realized that hey, I do feel more like my old self, maybe even better than before the diagnosis.

Perhaps the feeling of wellness is only from a sense of relief (that I’m not dead), rather than a metabolic improvement, but I can honestly say that, physically, I’m younger than my years. Here’s hoping that’s confirmed at my upcoming appointment.

Amish Ernie

Violent Saturday is an excellent crime drama, with soap opera elements for the ladies, as directed by Max Fleischer’s son Richard. Stephen McNally and Richard Egan look enough alike to confuse viewers at first, but there’s no mistaking Lee Marvin as a thug, or Ernest Borgnine as an Amish farmer. A favorite character actor, J. Carroll Naish, is also present.

Gideon Checked Out

My first awareness of Gideons Bibles came from hearing ‘Rocky Raccoon’.

The Beatles must have been in countless hotel rooms and suites with Gideons Bibles while on tour. Perhaps George drew spiritual comfort from one he found in this room.

Edgewater Inn Hotel, Seattle, August 21, 1964

Gideons Bibles are no longer universally accepted by hotels. I was in Baltimore this past weekend to attend a combination wedding and family reunion. I went back to my room, only to not find Gideons’ Bible.