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Monday, 29 January 2024

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I am glad to read you are back with a heartbeat that makes you write more like why I continue to read your every post since they started. I also am pleased that you Poppined off the lower shed in your first and final test of the umbrella hypothesis.

You could re-title the blog "The Bionic Photographer"!

Or not.

But congratulations on entering the bionic realm.

Having gone through what you went through, twice, I share your joy. I got my Medtronic wonder ticker over ten years ago and it allowed me to go back to the gym, take three spin classes a week and work with weights again. Then I slowed down again. This time it was Congestive Heart Failure (which, in my case, was not as bad as it sounds). I got prescribed Entresto, a true wonder drug, to quote my cardiologist, and got me most of the way back, followed by a mitral clip which has me, at 77, feeling better than I have for 5 years.

Enjoy the wonderful feeling and do all you can to help it. You already eat right so, now that you feel good, a bit more exercise and Bob’s your uncle.

[I glad to hear of your good results Jim! --Mike]

Glad you're feeling better, Mike! I hope to never be in a similar situation myself, but we'll see.

It had never occurred to me that Mary Poppins might have been responsible for a burst of childhood injuries related to jumping off of structures with only an open umbrella to soften the fall. I never did anything quite like that myself.

This is all wonderful, Mike. But: have you been warned about proximity to induction hobs? [Called stovetops or cooktops in the US --Ed.] My understanding is that they are hazardous to the continuing well-being of pacemaker users (hosts? installees? pacemades?).

What better excuse to avoid cooking, though...

Mike

Fantastic to hear that you are better. Hopefully for the next 13.7 years, you'll be pumping out posts before breakfast, leaving the rest of the day free for actual mountain climbing!

All the best.

Mike, I'm really glad that you are good and running. I have an uncle who was the laugh of our little town in Southern Mexico when he was maybe your age, in the 60s. After reading Superman comics he put in a red towel as a cape, and went to the second floor of the Town Hall to give it a try. Fortunately there were a lot of people there to spare him the trouble. He is also very intelligent, and always loved books. Reading can be very dangerous, as Cervantes showed us.

Cheers to your health Mike.

Mike

Your new lease of life - so to say - is obvious, palpable, and I am happy for you. To say the least, being able to breath and sleep well is great gain.

Thanks to a wonderful invention and a tiny long life battery, it shows at that it take very little to give people second chances in life.

Dan K.

Wonderful news Mike!

Sounds like you have the proverbial "new lease on life." I am so happy for you! Hope it is a very long, renewable lease.

Great news Mike! Congratulations and welcome back to your next chapter.

Happy to hear you have a added a new spark to your life and a sparkle in your eye! ( I guess the eye thing was a few years ago).
Amazing how in so short a time a body can be revitalized from such a torpid state of being.

Your improvement has manifested itself clearly in your writing, which is full of energy now and seems to be coming easily for you once again.

If failed flying experiments amuse you, google "Melbourne Moomba Birdman" - an annual homemade glider event ...

Glad to hear life has gotten so much better! I had to learn a little about batteries for a course I taught a few years ago but I concentrated on the rechargeable Li-ion batteries that we now see in all cameras. Batteries are a slowly evolving technology, with a Moore's Law doubling time of 5-10 years, but the Li-(Silver Vanadium Oxide) systems, established around 1980, offer the highest voltage and have the interesting property that the voltage only drops a bit when they are wearing down, and then still remains on a somewhat lower level for a long time, long enough to do something about it.

Even if you are dependent on a little battery device for your new feeling of vigor and vitality, it seems this one is an established champion.

Happy to hear the good news, and looking forward to more posts.

Good to see your CPAP numbers also getting healthier. I recall a selfie that you posted years ago, of yourself wired up for a sleep study.

Standard benchmark is for an AHI of 5 or less.

24-year CPAP user here. It was life changing ... and saving.

Mike, you make me want to go get a pacemaker (whether I need one or not)!

After reading about your Mary Poppins experiment and Albert’s hand gliding escapade I now have a better understanding of why my Mom never let me and my two brothers watch The Three Stooges. Our suburban garage was filled to the brim with saws, hammers, files and shovels. :-)

Glad to hear you're feeling better. I've been enjoying a similar transformation by starting CPAP therapy. Now I know what it's like to actually sleep deeply in more than 3 minute stretches. When I wake up, I'm awake! It's a marvel.

Just in time. I got a job photographing two 24-hour fitness gyms in two cities up to an hour away. The only time these sweatshops are empty is on Saturday and Sunday before 7 am. So I was out of bed at 4 am both days, and on the road by five. Between 6 and 7 am I made 65 HDR photos, right up until six patrons rushed in the door. I felt like I'd done a workout myself! Don't know if I could have done that with my undiagnosed sleep apnea.

Energized Bunny

EXCELLENT!

Small empiricist

Empiricism may legitimately include observation of experiments conducted by others. \;~)>

That's great news, but I just want to say you are a good and entertaining writer.

So glad you are doing well!

Welcome to the world of the bionic! My heart runs via ICD, my nighttime breathing via BIPAP (actually ASV, but it makes no real difference), my hearing via hearing aids, and vision via glasses. I feel ridiculous with all this doodadery, but I'll certainly never be one of those folks who pine for an existence in the past; I'd certainly have been dead at a young age.

As to your feeling better, you may find that you'll reach a plateau. That is, you'll feel good but have that nagging feeling that you can feel better. At that point, go back to the cardiologist and have them re-program your device. They can fine-tune everything these days, and you'll be surprised at how closely they can match a normal sinus rhythm. Over the years I've been re-programmed countless times, each with a noticeable improvement in quality of life.

Cheers and start hiking!

Congratulations on feeling better. Proper blood flow is definitely desirable.

I think if you look at the photos Ansel published in his books, particularly but not exclusively his teaching books, you see that he just did not want to be seen only as "THE LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHER". Yes, the Manzanar project comes as a surprise, but aren't these photos great? He did product photography, he did portraits (great portraits, just think about his Stravinsky portrait), he did architecture, event photography, graffiti, still lifes, you name it. Unlike Weston, he did not do erotic photography, as far as I know, and therefor I think he was prudish, but this is one of the rare things, maybe together with animal photos as you mentioned, he did NOT. Also, he did not shy away from smaller formats. The Hasselblad is well known and was mentioned, but he also was a fan of the Contax. The man is more than his reputation.

Glad to read this, Mike!
(Can you post a link to one of those batteries? 🤣)

[Sure here you go!

https://www.medtronic.com/us-en/healthcare-professionals/products/cardiac-rhythm/pacemakers/azure.html

--Mike]

Very pleased you’re feeling so much better - you sound positively sprightly

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