So Far, So Good

Well, it appears I have indeed survived my cardiac ablation procedure (yesterday).  Because I ended up as an afternoon procedure, I had to stay in the hospital overnight for observation…
Before I go any farther, I want to give a BIG shout-out to the wonderful doctors, nurses, aides and other staff working at John Muir Hospital in Concord, CA.  Every one of them were professional and caring!  I KNOW they were busy, but they all took the time to make sure I was comfortable and that everything followed the protocol / schedule without making it seem routine.  I genuinely felt like a person and not just a patient.
I am dating myself, but I’ll say it anyway:  “You guys ROCK!“
Now, I start the road to recovery.  The milestones are:
1)  survive the procedure (check)
2)  survive the first 24 hours and go home (check)
3)  survive the first 11.5 days.   According to the NIH, this is the median point for fatalities in the first 30 days after the procedure.  Fatalities for the procedure are “roughly” .46% – so 1 in 200, but the majority of those are related to co-morbidity factors, which I do not / did not have.
4)  survive 30 days post-op.  Again, according to the NIH, this is the critical time frame after which fatalities from the procedure drop to near zero(0).
5)  90 days evaluation of post-op medications and return to almost “normal” activity.
After 90 days, and assuming the procedure was successful, my “odds” of living a “normal” life expectancy (compared to those on or off of AFib medications) are the same.
Disclaimer:  As always, I would like to remind anyone reading this that I am NOT a doctor, I am not recommending this procedure to anyone, and you should ALWAYS consult with your own medical provider / primary physician if you notice any personal health issues.  My “road to recovery” checklist is based on my conversations with my cardiologist and my personal research on the Internet.
Finally, I offer my thanks to anyone who did offer up a prayer or positive thought for me.   I am and will remain extremely grateful.
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On This Day In:
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2016	A Burning Passion To Teach Freedom
2015	Before Debit (And Credit) Cards
2014	Herding Cats
2013	Ooops!
2012	Understand A Great Truth
2011	Start Here…
2010	Random Acts of Vandalism On Easter Weekend…

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Don’t Blink

It can do truth no service to blink the fact, known to all who have the most ordinary acquaintance with literary history, that a large portion of the noblest and most valuable moral teaching has been the work, not only of men who did not know, but of men who knew and rejected, the Christian faith.
—    John Stuart Mill
From:  “On Liberty“
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2020	Can We At Least Set The Bar Higher Than An Incompetent Liar In The Oval Office?
2019	Uncertain Times
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2018	Satisfied
2017	In The Mind
2016	Dreaming
2015	The Best Medicine Is Also Contagious
2014	Eyes Off
2013	The More Things Change…
2012	The Delicate Moment Of Giving
2011	Ready, Shoot, Aim!!

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Just Perspective

What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.
—     Richard Bach
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2021	The Honor Is To Serve…
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2020	Each Meaning
2019	The Deep End
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2018	Defining Characteristic
2017	Just Asking
2016	Still A Burden
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2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
2013	RIP – Dear Abby
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2011	Reverted!!

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Looking Forward To Christmas

The window of my soul I throw open to the sun.
—     John Greenleaf Whittier
From:  “My Psalm“
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2020	Trying To Keep On Keeping On
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2019	Ooops (Again)
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2017	I Love America Because…
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2016	As Far From
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2014	Game And Legend
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2012	Thoughts And Communications
2011	But How Does Peter Feel?
2010	Name That Regret

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Be Glorious

The glory of God is a human being fully alive.
—     St. Irenaeus
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2019	Still Working On Both
2018	Two Jordans To Heaven
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2017	All Greek To Me
2016	Judgment
2015	I Love Bacon, Too
2014	The Wee Bit
2013	Reading Rules
2012	Cadet Prayer
2011	Easy To Tell
2010	A NEW Lion In The Senate (Channeling Mr. Smith)
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Or At Least Nod In That Direction

I’m an atheist and I thank God for it.
―     George Bernard Shaw
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2020	Does Anyone Else Look Forward To The Last Lawn Mowing ‘Til Spring?
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2018	Keep America Great – Vote This Tuesday
2017	Old Style Ear Candy
2016	Next Tuesday
2015	Wanna Trade?
2014	Brothers And Friends
2013	So Suddenly
2012	At The Center
2011	Live Long And Thinner
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2010	SF Giants – 2010 World Series Champions!!!
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2009	Diet Update
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Seeking The Same Thing

For me the Voice of God, of Conscience, of Truth, or the Inner Voice or “the Still Small Voice” mean one and the same thing.
—     Mahatma Gandhi
Live seeking God, then you will not live without God.
—     Leo Tolstoy
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2020	Nothing New Here
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2019	Love And Leave
2018	Smiling If Not Laughing
2017	Chilled And Smooth
2016	But Sometimes You Have To Stand In Front
2015	The Key Shift
2014	Remember ISIS / ISIL?
2013	What Have You Done Lately?
2012	B8
2011	I’m Definitely Not In Control

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Salaam Alaikum, Pakistan

As we in the United States are currently experiencing terrible flooding in our South – South / East and extreme deadly heat in our South – South / West, let us take a moment to think about our fellow humanity suffering equally devastating weather related catastrophes in other parts of the world.
Tonight, as I am thinking of / praying for my fellow Americans in Mississippi, I am doing the same for Pakistan where there are estimates of over 1,100 people having lost their lives and over 20 million are homeless due to rain and flooding.
May God / Allah assist you in your time of need…
Salaam Alaikum for and from the people of America.
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On This Day In:
2021	Why Republicans Are Unhappy
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2020	A Tiny And Fragile World
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2018	I Put It Down To Bad Teachers
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2017	And The Future Is Now
2016	I Am
2015	Positively Aiming Higher
2014	Suspicious Minds
2013	We Are Not Alone
2012	Lawyer, n.
2011	Each Day Remember…
2010	Impossible Dreams of Camelot

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“Real” Americans Believe In The Separation Of Church And State

Silence is the only language God speaks.  Everything else is a bad translation.
—     Rumi
[My message to the members of the “Christian / American Taliban”…    —    kmab]
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On This Day In:
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2020	What’s Inside You?
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2018	My Religion
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2017	Adrift In The Oval Office
	Regrets – The Donald Failed The Test
2016	Just Ask “The Donald”
2015	Did You Pass On It?
2014	Even When It Ain’t, It Is
2013	Still Happens
2012	Possessing Eternity
2011	I Thought We Were Talking About Afghanistan

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Natural Remedy

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.
—    Anne Frank
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2020	The Spirit Of A Fighter, The Heart Of A Saint
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2019	Most Hire
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2018	Sounds Like #45’s White House
2017	Have We Started Winning Yet?
2016	Still Springy
2015	Well Concealed
2014	The History Of Warriors
2013	A Cult Of Ignorance
2012	Counting Valor
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2011	I Can Hear You Now
2010	Inception

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Is Normal Just Routine?

I would say that I don’t know how we got through that first shaky week of this third pandemic-impacted school year, hugging our kids and checking to make sure their masks were secure before they left each morning, except that I do know:  We had no choice.  We still don’t.  Though we’re grateful to their teachers and glad that our kids are once again learning alongside their peers, the worry persists, an undercurrent to which we’ve been forced to adapt as we settle into routines both familiar and new.
Each week brings more pediatric infections, more student quarantines.  Each day, I’m conscious of the fact that I’m allowing my children to assume a risk from which I, working at home, am protected, and this feels hopelessly backward.  I read every update to the school COVID-19 guidelines so I know what to expect after the inevitable exposure, but I can’t tell my kids what they have long wanted to know:  When will things go back to the way they remember?
…
Over the past 18 months, a common refrain has been that this pandemic should compel all of us to recognize our interdependence, the inescapable fact that we will not address this or any of the other grave threats we’re facing without collective action.  This is a lesson that I expect many of our children are also learning, though the cost and the danger to them feels too high.  I know I don’t want my kids to conclude that they are or forever will be powerless, or that there is no one who will fight with and for them.  There are many things I still have to hope for to get through each day, and while our children’s survival and health top the list, I also want them to retain their faith in themselves and in their ability to look forward to something better than this — to find, as they so often do, their own reasons to hope.
—     Nicole Chung
From:  “The View Essay: Parenting – Did I point my kids to the wrong North Star?” Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  11/18 Oct 2021
Also online at:  https://time.com/6102019/covid-19-hope-for-kids/
The online version appears as:  “There’s No End in Sight for COVID-19. What Do We Tell Our Kids Now?“
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2016	Cast Out
2015	Small Pieces
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2014	Uncertain Work
2013	Unpatriotic And Servile
2012	What Price Freedom?
2011	Particular Importance
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Do Good Works

Your life as a Christian should make non believers question their disbelief in God.
—    Dietrich Bonhoeffer
You will know them by what they do.  Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briers do not bear figs.
—    Matthew 7:16
From:  “The Bible” (Good News Translation)
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2022	Do Good Works
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2020	I’m Older Now
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2018	Easter In Liverpool
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2017	Decisions
2016	Along The Path
2015	Make Mine Rare, Please
2014	Passion Flooding
2013	On Purpose
2012	Sans Gall Bladder, Day 4
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2011	It’s Hammerin’ Time!!
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Just The Same

I have no faith, only a suitcaseful of beliefs that sustain me.  Life’s meaning has always eluded me and I guess always will.  But I love it just the same.
—    E. B. White
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2022	Just The Same
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2020	My Thoughts On #LyingDonald’s Corona Briefings
2019	As I Recall
2018	Effective Violence And A Government At Risk
2017	Playing The Same Music
2016	Survival Instinct
2015	Tears
2014	Bourne Again (4)
2013	God’s Protection
2012	Happy Easter!!
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2011	Logic Cuts

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If That’s What You Mean

I believe in you and me.  I’m like Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in that I have a respect for life – in any form.  I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is real evidence for.  If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God.  But I don’t believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or for a natural on the next roll of the dice.
––     Frank Sinatra
[Can one draw comfort from believing in “God” without looking directly for it (God’s comfort)?  I seem to be able to.  Inshallah…    —    kmab]
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2022	If That’s What You Mean
2021	Awakening The Glow
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2020	Golden Eagle
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2019	#45: Who Lost By Three Million Votes
2018	Torn Between Two Loves
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2017	I Think They Are Starting To…
2016	Living There
2015	Bookin’ West
	Beyond My Reach
	You Never Call Anymore…
2014	Winning?
2013	Still Inventing
2012	Motivated
2011	Waiting In Line At Starbuck’s

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Prayers For Ukraine

Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.
—    Samuel Johnson
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On This Day In:
2022	Prayers For Ukraine
2021	Be Your Own Hero
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2020	Still Trying To…
2019	Press Freedom
2018	Or Loyalty To An Unqualified And Incompetent President
2017	A Bad Sale
2016	Be Happy!
2015	Are You Feeling Cold?
2014	Never Asked
2013	In Praise Of Change
2012	John Carter Of Mars
	Circular
2011	How Much And When

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