About health and hospitals

First, getting a pacemaker is remarkable. I dragged my way in and came out energized. Immediately. Well, my pulse rate doubled, before and after.

Our health care system sucks. But this is at the level of coverage and opportunity.We have decent health care (a good thing, it's a forty grand operation), able to afford it,and I was impressed with the experience at Kaiser Sunnyside. Professional, convenient, flexible, my short stay was first rate. Room service and wifi perks. I don't know how to improve the experience.

Now it's great to feel better and all that, but there's something else going on here. We are creating persons with more technological than natural parts. That seems to be where this is heading. And I've heard no public debate on the wisdom of this. In fact, we get no public debate on most things that matter in our lives, from cars given us to buy to politicians given us to vote for. We take the alternatives offered to us. Maybe we should have something to say about choosing the alternatives in the first place.

Modern medicine is wondrous. However, there's the temptation of arrogance that goes with this, i.e. any problem has a technological solution. This has gotten us into trouble before. It's contributed, in fact, to global warming. There usually are unforeseen consequences we later regret. You don't see this arrogance in pure science so much because there is no immediate money to be made on the goal of pure science, which is truth. You have to adapt the truth, applied science, to make money. So pure scientists tend to be incredibly humble. Applied scientists tend to be arrogant.

All of this avoids an important discussion this culture needs to have about death. Never happen. But we need it. We need to accept it and institutionalize it. We need Death Celebrations the way we have Birth and Marriage celebrations. We need wakes where the departing one is the host. We need a pill that makes all this painless for the one leaving us. Never happen. But a sane, compassionate culture we move in this direction.

To put new 20s energy onto old 70s knees is to invite more bionic manipulation. I am going to resist it. I like being old, in general. I like having some energy. I don't need to become a stud. Been there, done that.

The 2-month "recovery" period for the area to heal will be more trying than the operation itself. Keeping the left arm restricted is the key, which is changing a lot of habits. The adventure begins.