What an Incredible Experience!

I’m going in for gallbladder surgery this morning. Yippee! The nasty old thing has shut down on me and been jabbing me rather sharply when she didn’t like something I ate or often just cuz'.

In order to have the surgery, I had to have a echo stress cardiac test. Yes, it did involve a treadmill, but that part didn’t last long at all and was absolutely no strain. The rest of the test was a complete trip and I loved it.

First the technician, an extremely fun guy named Mike, had me lie down on my left side and then began probing my left ribcage area with an ultra-sound wand while fuzzy, gray moving pictures began to appear on the monitor screen.

Soon, he had zoomed in on my heart, literally pounding away. I was immediately impressed. “Look at that thing go!” I thought. Instantly, a name jumped into my head, so I gave it to my heart - Frieda. I said this out loud and Mike laughed. He said that was a first for him – someone naming their heart.

You must understand that I name everything. My RV is called Wanda, my car Bebe and my computer is Toby (short for Toshiba).

We chuckled and chatted for another 15 minutes or so, as he pulled up various views of Frieda, just beating away. It’s funny, but I didn’t have a sense of the pictures being of me - or part of me - at all. No, instead, this was relative or friend of mine, whom I was inordinately proud of, having just met her.

We did the treadmill thing and then it was back to the table and the magic wand. At some point, Mike told me I had good velocity! That means my blood is moving through my heart at a good speed. I took that to be high praise, similar to being told I have nice eyes. Good old Frieda – not only was she doing an excellent job, but she was bringing me approval!

Eventually, the test was over and it was time to say goodbye to Mike. He had managed to make what could have been a “stressful” stress test into a wonderful learning experience and a personal introduction to my heart – now named Frieda. I had a good time and I’m grateful.

When I got to work the next day, I told one of my co-workers about naming my heart Frieda. She just laughed, knowing well my habit of naming things. Together, she and I named my gallbladder – Cruella, as in DeVille.