Pulse no longer required

[PSPookie]

This is absolutely amazing/freaky/terrifying: Invalid Link Removed

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is recuperating from surgery to implant the kind of mechanical pump now being given to a small but growing number of people with heart failure so severe that they would most likely die within a few months without it.

The pumps are partial artificial hearts known as ventricular assist devices, and they come in various models. Mr. Cheney’s kind is about the size of a D battery and leaves most recipients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart’s own pulsatile beat. Most such pulse-less patients feel nothing unusual. But they are urged to wear bracelets or other identifications to alert emergency room doctors as to why they have no pulse.

I, for one, welcome our new cyborg overlords.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Pretty funky!

 

[MIJ-VI]

Weren't those D batteries used in Florida a few years back?

 

[geeza]

You will be assimilated... Resistance is futile.

 

[McHaven]

I find this to be playing god, and further proves my hypothesis that Dick Cheney is a vampire.

 

[EBodious]

yeah, i think most people would need some kind of identifying bracelet, but i doubt anyone expected dick cheney to have a pulse to begin with!

 

[thumpbass1]

I have dilated cardiomyopathy, or basically a damaged, and enlarged left ventricle thanks to a stupid virus that didn't even give me the sniffles. I now live with congestive heart failure, and I have some fair degree of impairment from it, as the old blood pump ain't got the kick on the output side that it once had. Thankfully for the past few years I've been relatively stabilized by the meds I take, and I still try to live as normal of a life as I can. If I should ever get worse down the road, which could very well eventually happen, and I get headed for end stage, or class 4 heart failure, I'm grateful that a device like this is now available.

Some patients, during clinical studies of these devices, have actually had their hearts heal from damage to some degree, as their heart didn't have to work as hard with this kind of device implanted. For now, the doctors, along with the medical insurance powers that be, are saving these devices for severely ill patients. It may delay the need for a transplant, and it's certainly a tremendous assist option for patients on the waiting list for a heart transplant. I do have an ICD implant, a pacemaker with an onboard defib unit in case I should ever need it. Another slick bit of med tech to say the least. It's amazing what medical technology is developing these days, and I'm grateful that this kind of tech is available.

 

[Deluge Of Sound]

Dick Cheney is a vampire.

That was exactly what I came in here to post.

 

[L-A]

Later tonight, a disappointing interview with the creator of the prosthetic beer bong.

 

[MIJ-VI]

I have dilated cardiomyopathy, or basically a damaged, and enlarged left ventricle thanks to a stupid virus that didn't even give me the sniffles. I now live with congestive heart failure, and I have some fair degree of impairment from it, as the old blood pump ain't got the kick on the output side that it once had. Thankfully for the past few years I've been relatively stabilized by the meds I take, and I still try to live as normal of a life as I can. If I should ever get worse down the road, which could very well eventually happen, and I get headed for end stage, or class 4 heart failure, I'm grateful that a device like this is now available.

Some patients, during clinical studies of these devices, have actually had their hearts heal from damage to some degree, as their heart didn't have to work as hard with this kind of device implanted. For now, the doctors, along with the medical insurance powers that be, are saving these devices for severely ill patients. It may delay the need for a transplant, and it's certainly a tremendous assist option for patients on the waiting list for a heart transplant. I do have an ICD implant, a pacemaker with an onboard defib unit in case I should ever need it. Another slick bit of med tech to say the least. It's amazing what medical technology is developing these days, and I'm grateful that this kind of tech is available.

If this tech is going to keep bass players alive (and not just politicians) then I'm all for it.

May the enjoyment of life be yours for a very, very long time.

 

[thumpbass1]

If this tech is going to keep bass players alive (and not just politicians) then I'm all for it.

May the enjoyment of life be yours for a very, very long time.

Thank you.

 

[ZachOrem]

If this tech is going to keep bass players alive (and not just politicians) then I'm all for it.

May the enjoyment of life be yours for a very, very long time.

You have a good attitude. Thank you for making the world a little more positive.