The technician put half a dozen patches on my bare chest and attached them to leads that go to a small control box. Showing me the button on the side of the console, he says, "If you have an event, palpitation, fibrillation, whatever, push this button and make a note of the time." Then he handed me an activity list. "you don't have to list every little thing you do, but show us your activities through the day." Now I'm hooked up for 24 hours." What the electrocardiogram will show, I have no way of knowing.
Otherwise, the day went as usual. I finished a chapter of the Western novel I decided to complete first. The gumshoe story will be next. Sent off a couple of articles.
Sitting in front of the TV -- Japan has more elderly people per capita than any other society on earth -- I was watching a special on Living Wills. Something Japan does not agree with, that is, turning off the switch when a patient is brain-dead . . . well, actually, they were talking of people with ALS who ultimately lose control of all their nervous and muscular faculties. Should they turn off the respirator when the patient loses the ability to communicate, by whatever method available (some wonderous methods have developed)?
The program set me to thinking. Do I have another decade? (I'm 67 and some months) Two? Whichever, I don't have a lot of time to waste. It makes me think about priorities. My days seem to be taken up with trivial things, but I get something done on what I think is important as well. (I watch too much TV, too.)
I will soon have to make some hard decisions. We'll see what I am able to do.
