Hello again!

Thank you so much for your prayers. Back home again after surgery yesterday. On the whole, a very humbling experience (like most heart surgery, Acts 2:37; 7:54). But I got some well-overdue resting and reading done.

I must say that observing all the very involved methods of the medical profession to keep unclean things out of the body immediately made me think of the intricacies of the sacrificial practices in Leviticus.

I was shaved like a poodle, stuck with umpteen needles, had at least 20 electrode pads attached over the period, a camera inserted in my groin (as well as a little “claw” to grab some heart tissue for a biopsy), was basted like a raw chicken (well, with Betadine), strapped to a bench twice and received two general anaesthetics (one for the angiogram and one for the Installation). They also prepped me for open heart surgery “just in case,” which included a large showercap-like splatter cover for the light above my chest. The medical staff were all caring and good-humoured. Humour counts for a lot.

With Obamacare being such an issue, I should say we have private health cover even though the public system here is quite okay. The heart specialist told me to go private, because “a lot of cheap Italian models [of pacemaker] have been dumped on the Australian market, so that is what you will get on the public system, as well as a waiting list.” So I have been extremely privileged to receive an American unit and have the whole process of diagnoses and installation done fairly promptly.

The pacemaker company rep bounced into my hospital room this morning, of African descent with dreads and a Star Trekky blue and silver plastic suitcase that “Transformered” into a desktop computer (he was not American, but born in Glasgow).  He adjusted my unit remotely, and said “I can slow down your heart,” at which point I immediately started feeling terrible, “…and speed it up again,” at which point I barely managed to refrain from grabbing his dreads and breaking his teeth with the computer.

Again, it was great to know people were praying both here and on the other side of the world. Thank you.