Tuesday, May 29, 2012

THE BEAT GOES ON


A few days ago I made this photo of a small hover fly working a trio of Common Fleabane blooms. Some folks call hover flies "flower flies" or "syrphid flies." You often see them poised around blooms, where they feed on the flower's nectar or pollen. Hover flies are considered beneficial insects, since they're fairly important pollinators, and because the larvae of some species feeds on aphids and thrips, thus protecting plants from such pests' juice-sucking destruction. While the hover fly may resemble a bee in coloration, it is perfectly harmless.

A day or so after I made this image, the fleabane began to wilt. Now the plant is down on the ground—soon to disappear until next spring. In its place will come Daisy Fleabane and Whitetop, and then the asters.

The beat goes on—with insects and flowers, birds and mammals, even incorrigible ol' riverbank-dwelling scribes of maturing vintage. I had my pacemaker's two-week post-implant checkup today, and everything is going fine. I continue to feel better, with each new day bringing an additional degree of improvement. Fact is, I already feel the best I have in years, for which I'm pleased—and thankful—beyond words. My next checkup is in six months. 

So that's the promised update. 

I'll close with a bit of info I found astonishing, even amusing in a flabbergasted "I can't believe anyone would be that crazy!" sort of way. From Helping Your Heart: A Patient's Guide to Understanding Cardiac Pulse Generators, a little booklet which came with the packet I received from the pacemaker's manufacturer at discharged from the hospital. Under "Coming Home After Surgery," a list of dos and don'ts, there's this incredible gem: Do not play with or move the pulse generator under the skin. 

My Lord! Really? People need to be told this? There are really folks who fiddle with the device that's implanted under their hide, wired into their heart, and probably keeping them alive? Are you kidding? So I asked my doctor. Yup, they're out there…and not as uncommon as, say, a Kirtland's Warbler. 

Go figure.
————————                        

16 comments:

Debbie said...

Nearly everything comes with some kind of warning now, doesn't it? I think it's to cover the manufacturers more than us, but some of them are rediculous...some downright funny!
But then when you read the daily news, you see there are a lot of strange people doing strange things. We know that you won't be playing with that device. :D
Debbie

Jain said...

It's a perfect photo, Grizz! I'm glad to hear you're feeling so well!

Cicero Sings said...

Well I'm glad that the beat goes on and that you are a man of sense and that you are feeling better than you have for a good while.

Fleabanes and asters are August flowers here ... so funny to see that they are blooming in your world already!

Grizz………… said...

Debbie…

Oh yeah, manufacturers put warnings on everything—and with good reason. At the very least, we are a nation which has apparently lost its common sense and notions of personal responsibility. If we weren't, I wouldn't now have to drink coffee that's lukewarm when I'm out and about, all because some clumsy lady spilled hers on her own lap and sued the fast-food joint…and won! Haven't bought any flatware recently, but surely the forks and spoons come with warnings—and I won't even mention the butter knives!

But hey, I can assure you, this ol' boy ain't about to sit around messin' with his high-tech metronome. Where I come from, if I did, and keeled over dead afterwards, nobody would sue anybody, but everybody paying their respects would nod at me all supine in the box, shake their head, give a rueful grin, and say, "Well, guess you learned you lesson, huh."

Grizz………… said...

Jain…

Thank you. And believe you me, I'm going to make use of my renewed lease, too!

Grizz………… said...

Cicero Sings…

Thank you. I really didn't realize how far down I'd gotten until I began getting better and better and better. If I don't manage one additional degree of improvement, it's already a miracle—far more than I expected, or dared hope.

Re. those fleabanes and asters—isn't July spring and August summer in Alaska? ;-)

Rowan said...

So glad that all is going well and that you are feeling so much better.
Nice photo of the hoverfly - I definitely regard them as 'a good thing' and enjoy hearing them as well as seeing them working the flowers.

Debbie said...

If you have time, take a look at my post on screech owls. Being a town dweller, it's such a blessing to get so many opportunities to photograph owls and hawks in my back yard.
Deb

Grizz………… said...

Rowan…

Thank you. I'm looking forward to getting back to the hills and woods and remote corners I haven't visited in awhile—and of course, making photos.

The hoverfly in the blog image is probably of the Tribe Syrphini, though that's perhaps stretching my entomological skills (and I use the term lightly) a bit too far. They're pretty neat insects, and often colorful. I like photographing them.

Grizz………… said...

Debbie…

Thanks for the heads up, though I don't think I would have missed reading your post…especially not with that screech owl pix. My problem is that lots of time I read posts from my iPod, and for me on that device, texting a comment is a pain.

You're lucky. I've never gotten a screech owl shot here along the river, though I occasionally hear one, as well as barred owls and great horned. Hawks I do see and photograph, though only Cooper's, red-tailed, and one possible young red-shouldered. I see other species of both round and about the county, but those are what I'd call my "back yard" hawks and owls.

KGMom said...

As soon as I read your title, I knew all is well.
I can sympathize--one faulty beating heart to another. Your solution was a pacemaker, mine (for now) is rebooting--aka cardioversion--and a changed prescription.
Good health to you for many years. Glad you are feeling so much better.

Grizz………… said...

KGMom…

Thank you so much for those words—I really appreciate them. I've been out puttering in the yard and just came in for a drink—truly enjoying digging in the dirt and pulling weeds, while birds sing and the river sparkles in the warm sunshine. As you can imagine, being a fellow A-fibber, I sympathize and understand your situation…and Lord knows, the prescription fussing. I hope you continue to do well, and that a couple of decades from now, we can still be exchanging emails, blog comments, or whatever they've evolved into at that point.

AfromTO said...

I swear with that perfectly designed photo you asked the insect to float exactly where you needed it for the best shot.Well with your new ticker sounds like you will be out and about more-maybe the great outdoors will be calling more.Happy to hear you ticking faster even from this distance.

Grizz………… said...

AfromTO…

You know, I cropped around at this photo and, though I'm not usually too big on square images, finally decided that was the only way the shot really worked. I'm glad to have someone with a real artist's eye say they like it, too. (Well, I did have to pay the hover fly to land exactly there…but hover flies work cheap.)

I will be out and about. 61 BPM yesterday at the doc's. For me, thta's racin'.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Glad the pacemaker is working well Grizz. As for people fiddling with the mechanism - as we say here in the UK 'There's nowt so queer as folks.' (nowt - translation - nothing)

Grizz………… said...

Weaver…

Thank you…I spent several hours today afield. It was really good to get, and I felt good the whole time.

I think you have to be pretty dumb to mess with your own pacemaker, but there's plenty of that going around on our side of the pond, too.