interspecies communication

I met this man and within about three minutes, we had exchanged the fact that we both had a fib. I went on to list all the other stuff I have but that was it for him.  Still, I listed all my chronic health woes:  cardiomypathy (what is that?), arthritis that hurts more all the time, type one diabetes and it is sometimes wicked hard to manage it, a history of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary emboli (DVT/PE), a bum left knee that an orthopedist recently told me definitely needs a joint replacement but he won't do the surgery on someone with my significant history of DVT/PE. I even tried to wheedle that guy a bit, although he was the most matter-of-fact doc I have ever consulted. I could see he was happy to rapidly tell me, rat-a-tat-tat that based on my report health history, he would not do my surgery. Three minutes, tops. I am sure that guy is a great and efficient surgeon. But, he said, the risk of me developing a clot with knee replacement surgery were very high and the risk of my death very high also. I almost said, but did not, that I wouldn't mind dying and if I died because of surgical complications, well, that would be like a free pass sin-wise but, somehow, I did not think Dr. Very-efficient would have cared to hear my petulance.

This guy with the afib patiently let me list all my health issues and I have left some out and then he almost exloded in excitement. "You have to educate yourself about afib, you can't count on your doctor."  Hey, I interjected sometime in our exchange, you don't have to tell me. I diagnosed my last DVT and my Afib should have been obvious to my doc. It wasn't obvious to me because I had never heard of afib or its symptoms.

"That's right," he said, almost happily, "You have to educate yourself."

"When I began to experience tightness in my chest while doing my daily lap swims, I just thought it was what getting old feels like."  I am not that old, not really. But he kept nodding and politely listened to me prattle on.

And finally, he got to talk a lot. He has been an endurance athelete all his life and, he now knows, endurance atheletes have more heart problems, especially a fib, than everyone else. So I mentioned I've swum laps nearly daily most of my life but that I am not an endurance swimmer. Footnote to self: does the 18 months I swam two whole hours every single day but Christmas count as endurance swimming? And what came over me to get me swimming two hours a day for 18 months? But I did not mention the two hour swim thing. It happened years ago.

He says there is a book full of good info that was written to endurance atheletes with a fib but it is loaded with good info and reading it might save my life. At the very least, he said, it will educate you about your illness.

I sighed and said "Okay, I'll definitely read it" and I just definitely ordered it. It is not available through the library, not even interlibrary loan. What? Endurance athletes with a fib don't merit an educational library book?!!

And then I told him the story about my epic battle with Maggie's cat, how I cat sat three weeks and that cursed cat expected me to get up at 4 am and fit in the kitchen while she ate breakfast. Three weeks? Nope. I had cat sat for long weekends and accomodated that cat but with three weeks spreading before me, by day three, I was done with the 4 a.m. kitchen visits. And that damned cat sat outside my closed bedroom door and caterwauled shriekishly until I did get up. And I would grow more stubborn with each cat shriek so I tended to leave the bedroom around 10 a.m. I could, after all, write and surf from behind that door.

More to the story but this story is about making the guy laugh and winning a bet.  In the cat story, I mentioned that Maggie had hired an interspecies communicator to have the communicator ask the cat if I was an acceptable cat sitter. I couldn't believe the cat told that interspecies communicator I was acceptable. That cat was feral and really only liked Maggie. If the cat scratched me, and she did, even when I was brushing her dutifully every day as maggie had instructed, that cat would leave claw lines on my arms. Not gonna rise at 4 a.m. for a feral cat who hurts me over and over.

The guy, and he told me his name but I don't remember it (should I add memory loss to the list?  Nah, I remember everything, even that which I would love to forget. . . my cursed memory), guffawed when I said 'interspecies communicator'. I said if there are interspecies communicators on Whidbey Island, I am positive there are some right here in Berkeley. So he pulls out his smartphone and looks it up. Sure enough, there are many search results.

He laughed and asked "You don't really believe in interspecies communication, do you?" To which I responded "Have you heard of St. Francis of Assisi? Do you think he was the only one ever in the history of humankind?"  "Of course I have heard of St. Francis of Assisi. I just never heard of any other interspecies communicators." After he showed me a screen filled with websites for interspecies communicators, he said "May I have your phone number?" and he gestured with his phone, indicating, I thought "as long as I have it out".

I said "well, okay, but the interspecies communicator is one of my all time best stories. I might not be able to top it if we get together again."

And the whole time I nattered away, talking too much, not asking about him so much, I wanted to ask what was his endurance sport and did he happen to be a medical doctor for he sure seemed very knowledgeable.

We compared our impressions of our respective cardiologists. Are people old when they both have cardiologists? He has no endocrinologist, no pain specialist. It didn't come up but all geezers have a gastroenterologist for their colonoscopies, right? And everyone has a primary.

He has had two ablations. When I was in the hospital back in Feb, my cardiologist mentioned ablation in passing but, whodathunkit, I improve rapidly. No ablation for me so far.

The guy who challenged me on whether or not interspecies communicators was a real thing says a fib shows up in all kinds of ways and that's why I have to educate myself on this illness, because there are so many different ways it shows up and I have to know what to look for, docs won't tell me.