They Aren't Just For Old Peeps Any More...

Well, I figure I should take a few (hundred) steps back here and start off this blog at the beginning; that is, my beginning. I'm going to tell you about one of the most formative elements of this design monkey's life, how it came to be, and what it means to me now. After this blog I could jump all over the place (as we monkeys tend to do in our ADD way), but for now allow me to focus on the beginning of a tiny little monkey with a shaggy black mane...

I was born with a hole in my heart, and underwent open heart surgery at 1 year of age. My heart rate was always slow after that. It wasn't until I was 10 that anything scary happened as a result...

I was in hernia surgery (10 yrs. old) when I went into cardiac arrest. I made it through, but at that point it was decided that a pacemaker would prevent my heart from fluctuating in the future, and would therefore be a good idea.

A lot of people (maybe less in recent years) think that pacemakers are only used for senior citizens. I'm living proof to the contrary. OK, to some of you maybe I am old...hell, when I was a kid I used to think that 25 was ancient...but here I am at 30 and on my 3rd pacemaker.

So anyway at 12 years old I received my first cybernetic implant...lol... (ie. pacemaker) and in like 1997 they were going to replace the pacemaker battery, but realized that pacemaker technology had come so far that they'd just replace the whole shebang. Enter pacemaker #2.

After a few years, pacemaker #2 (or as I like to call it, the Iron Bitch) attempted to leave my body by slowly, painfully moving from the middle of my right pec toward my underarm. Yeah. OW.

So the doctors removed the evil pacemaker, and I received a brand new, shiny 3rd pacemaker. Last year the doctors told the pacemaker to stop doing so much work for my body. The result, I'm happy to say, is that my heart is growing stronger by taking on more responsibility for pumping blood to my entire body, etc.

Now if I can lose this weight, I'll be in good shape (no pun intended).