http://www.scientificanimations.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s response to having a heart attack back in 1983 as he drove home from Chicago was to stop at a truck stop and have a beer and a sandwich.
With one totally clogged heart artery and others almost as bad, the keeper underwent two sessions of cutting-edge angioplasty, which held up until necessary bypass surgery ten years ago; all of which fed into his interest in listening to a TED lecture with Phyllis recently in which a veteran heart surgeon presented undeniable evidence of the effects of stress and emotions on the heart. Bad things—even life-threatening things, happen to the big “brainless” organ in the face of attack or pressure put on the human system: The heart’s basic shape may change, its functioning may be altered, and blood pressure may rise to dangerous levels.
The keeper is living proof of the TED lecturer’s point: He—the keeper, can still make revelry because circumstances removed him from a situation of personal stress to one of unexpected warm tranquility. His measurable heart rate and blood pressure assumed more normal levels as his days became rich and full: Thank you, Phyllis! There is a big heart-shaped box of chocolates in your Valentine’s Day future.
