Soccer Player Revived by Defibrillator Implant

Here is evidence of the life-saving abilities provided by implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICD).

In the video (taken at a soccer match in Europe in early June), a player drops to the field with a heart arrhythmia. Watch closely as his body jolts when his implanted defibrillator shocks his heart back into a normal rhythm.

Truly amazing. Had it not been for this young man’s implanted device, he likely would have died on the soccer field.  Ninety-five percent of all people who suffer from a sudden cardiac arrest, and who don’t have an ICD, do die.

Companies like mine (Medtronic) get harpooned by the U.S. news media regularly as reporters focus on a handful of negative issues versus the life-saving therpies technology provides to people today. Fact is, medical device technologies made by Medtronic alone save or positively impact the lives of more than six million people every year.

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Real or Fake? Both Have Their Advantages

I’m not talking about silicone breast implants. Although I have an opinion on them. What I am blogging about is the conundrum of real versus artificial Christmas trees.

Each have their advantages.

• Real trees smell wonderful when freshly cut.
• Artificial trees don’t prick you to death when you’re stringing on the lights. In fact, the latest of models have the lights pre-strung, saving you hours of torture every year. (A friend has been known to throw out her real Christmas tree every Dec. 26 with the lights still warm and in place!)
• A real tree, with its natural beauty, warms up a room more so than those made in China. However, they’ll really warm up a room fast if you leave a candle burning close by and those dry needles catch on fire.
• Artificial trees offer easy take down and clean up. No needles left behind to step on when you’re barefoot sometime next July.
• Artificial trees are available at any big box lumber store, department store or – yes – even the progressive greenhouses where owners now know they must cater to the ever-growing market of tree buyers interested in artificial trees.
• Real trees: If you go hunting in the woods for one, you might die.

Case in point: Frederick Dominguez and his three children got lost in the snow on Dec. 16 when they set out to cut down a Christmas tree near Paradise, Calif. Three days and nights spent in the snowy woods, and many helicopter and foot searches later, Daddy Dominguez and his kids were spotted and rescued.

“We weren’t prepared at all,” son Chris Dominguez said, after the rescue. “We just thought we were going to go up to the mountains, get our tree and go back home. It didn’t turn out that way.”

Sounds to me like next year the Dominguez family goes to Lowes for an artificial tree.

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Whatcha Worth…Dead?

I’ve never thought much about what my body might be worth once I’m dead. In fact, my master plan is a quick cremation coupled with explicit instructions for where the kids can take my ashes and sprinkle them (currently there’s a bike path not far from my home that crosses a nice marsh where I’d be comfortable).

The unsettling news is that I’m only worth a whopping $4,125 dead.

Take the Cadaver Calculator quiz by cliking this link and get your own valuation, if you dare!

Bwaaahahahahaha.

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