Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Seeing Inside Myself


Quote of the day:
“You know what they say about fear. The only cure is to cut off your head.”
--Ronald Bass and Michael Hertzberg, from the movie Entrapment.

As part of some routine medical tests, today I had an echo-cardiogram. It’s similar to a sonogram in producing images of what is happening inside your body.

It’s hard to describe the feeling of watching my heart beating. More precisely, watching all the individual movements of my heart as it beat.

I could see one side of the heart pump, then the other. I could see the valves opening and closing. It was simultaneously eerie and wonderful.

I lay there thinking that my heart does all these things continuously, and has for many years. It was hard for me to focus on just the physiology of what was happening. A very gentle sense of awe settled on me.

When we were finished I shook the technician’s hand and headed to the parking lot.

It was a quiet pre-holiday evening at the hospital. I passed just one person in the hallway. It was a nurse coming on duty. I started to say hi but she was distracted.

It was a glorious evening outside.

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