Is it Curtains for me?

I think you are taking the most productive approach you can, Protime. Inform yourself as best you can in preparation for the conversations with the specialists, get the best info you can from them, plan accordingly, and then move on with living the best life you can. I am sending, quoting the immortal "Oddball" in Kelly's Heroes, "Positive Waves, baby, Positive Waves"

gerrychuck said:

quoting the immortal "Oddball" in Kelly's Heroes, "Positive Waves, baby, Positive Waves"

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great movie!

Chin up @Protimenow , paraphrasing what I said earlier, just take what is handed to you by the dealer and make of it what you can.

Best Wishes

I'm not jumping to any conclusions at this time. I may do some research on Cardiac anatomy so I know a lot better what's going on with this powerful pump.

I didn't listen to my gardener, pool guy, or other specialists who I've asked about this.

If it was particularly urgent, I suspect that I would have heard from UCLA with a proposed date for a follow-up visit.

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Still, the push to get a living trust sooner rather than later is a realistic one.

So is focusing on the projects that matter -- and, finally, trying to make my wife happy.

Hi

Protimenow said:

Still, the push to get a living trust sooner rather than later is a realistic one.

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myself I made a new will soon after my wife died, and another again when I sold up and went to Finland.

never hurts to be prudent. I view it as leaving the house with the umbrella ... it somehow solidifies the chances of rain are lower.

And, as Gorp said, when a plane flew into the barn at a house he was thinking about buying (I'm paraphrasing here' - I'll buy it. It's disaster-proof.

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I'm still waiting to set up an appointment with my doctor to get a better explanation of what he thinks the MRI results mean, and where we should go from here.

For now, I'm studying a bit of cardiac anatomy so I better understand the structures and functions of the heart (and maybe know more of what the doctor says). The source that I'm currently using is a course taught to University (or med school?) students. I'll probably review other courses and fill my brain with all kinds of cardiac information - most of it pretty accurate and consistent from one source to another.

Then, if I can learn more from trustworthy sources, I'll check out myocardial fibrosis, and the failure of myocardium to contract.

FWIW - my other valves look good, my right atrium appears to be fine, though the output volume is somewhat reduced (probably related to the reduced ejection from the left side.).

In the meantime, I've got 'stuff' to do -- including taking out some trash that seems to be ripening while I write this.

Protimenow said:

including taking out some trash that seems to be ripening while I write this.

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I was just reading that home garbage "ripening" is one of the largest sources of methane (a GHG)

It definitely is.
When I was taking some Epidemiology courses, they discussed the methane emissions from garbage and rotting foods.

Garbage trucks take tons of the stuff, and dump it into landfills, creating huge mountains of garbage. The stuff is so dangerous that they sink pipes into the mountains to drain some of the methane. They don't seem to be clever enough to harness the heat of burning the stuff into electricity generation.

There's a former mountain near me - some used to call it Mount Garbage - that they put lots of soil over, planted native plants, laid down sod (and apparently figured out a way to reroute the methane) and now it's a very high priced property development.

Most landfills are put in very remote areas - and they're pretty valueless. Put them into an area where populations grow, and surrounding areas are worth a lot of money, and they become expensive new real estate.

Amazing.

I wonder how many of these big spenders actually realize that they live on what used to be a landfill.

Protimenow said:

It definitely is.
When I was taking some Epidemiology courses, they discussed the methane emissions from garbage and rotting foods.

Garbage trucks take tons of the stuff, and dump it into landfills, creating huge mountains of garbage. The stuff is so dangerous that they sink pipes into the mountains to drain some of the methane. They don't seem to be clever enough to harness the heat of burning the stuff into electricity generation.

There's a former mountain near me - some used to call it Mount Garbage - that they put lots of soil over, planted native plants, laid down sod (and apparently figured out a way to reroute the methane) and now it's a very high priced property development.

Most landfills are put in very remote areas - and they're pretty valueless. Put them into an area where populations grow, and surrounding areas are worth a lot of money, and they become expensive new real estate.

Amazing.

I wonder how many of these big spenders actually realize that they live on what used to be a landfill.

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Actually There is a small factory about 8 mi from where I live where they use the gas somehow in the process of steel fabrication. I'm not sure exactly What they do or how they do it but they are using methane gas from a landfill not too far from there.. Custom Steel Fabrication Company - Waste Gas Fabricating Co.

When I was studying epidemiology, I wondered about why the gas wasn't harnessed for practical uses. If I recall (and this could have been one of my fantasies at the time), an agricultural company or research project rerouted methane from their tons of manure back INTO the manure many feet below the top of the pile, using it to heat the mass above it, and accelerating the breakdown process.

I think, too, that like the Steel company that you mentioned, there are/were industries located fairly close to these methane generators (trash, manure, other organics) who had a pipeline between these methane sources and their manufacturing plants, and used the probably inexpensive methane to power their factories. I don't remember what the specific byproduct of burning methane is - if I recall, methane is C2O2, but the process of burning the stuff is probably more environmentally friendly than just releasing methane into the air.

Here in the San Fernando Valley (California) a little known Natural Gas storage facility was leaking Methane for a few years. It caused high priced property to be unlivable for a year or more and was a year long disaster for those in the area. If not handled properly that stuff can be disastrous - and really screw up the climate. (The area where the leak occurred showed up as one of the most polluted environmental areas in the country).

Methane is a hydrocarbon so CH⁴ and burning it in oxygen produces CO² and H²O.

So add a carbonated water plant right next to the steel factory

It's funny. When we had the carbon monoxide leaks, they were all calling it Methane. I didn't think so, but didn't check out the actual molecular formula (it's CO). Methane is, obviously, different.

I didn't trust my memory to catch the error that would have been obvious to anyone who took chemistry classes (yes, calling monoxide meant one oxygen atom, but I wasn't sure about the carbon component).

Some of what I've written may be a bit wrong - especially the part about the massive natural gas leak here in Southern California.

(There's been a new focus on Hydrogen cars, over the past few months. From what I've read, these cars spew a lot of water vapor into the air, and if enough cars were using Hydrogen, we'd wind up with an atmospheric crisis because of all the water vapor. Also, according to what I've read, it takes more energy to split water into Hydrogen than Hydrogen alone produces. Hydrogen, then, is a net negative for energy output, and can be an environmental hazard).

Back to the original post - and away from Methane and other gases--

I spoke to the doctor who ordered the Cardiac MRI. He is a cardiac rhythm specialist.

My two week heart monitor showed a rate of PVCs that he wasn't concerned about.

My MRI was also not one of his concerns. He speculated that my cardiac scarring (I'm speculating that these may be from old MIs that I ignored over the years) may be the cause of the infrequent PVCs.

I have cardiac myopathy with my heart functioning at 40% of what it should -- but this isn't a management issue for a doctor who only focuses on arrhythmias.

He told me that this is something that should be managed by my electrocardiologist. Eventually (as VitDoc said), I may need a defibrillator.

This isn't the dire news that I was bracing myself for - but I will still get my financial affairs in order, work on the projects that are most important (unless interrupted by PAYING projects), and try to remember that I want to do these things.