Hello Randy (and the 'ole Sowpub Gang),
I appreciate your best wishes and prayers.
Thanks Dien for the heads up on this thread.

I'm feeling much better after having died...
literally.

That sounds unbelievable, so let me hasten to
explain.

As many of you know, a few years ago after
my annual physical, my doctor turned to me
and said, "Brent, you have a big heart." I
said, "Thank you very much."

But he was actually referring to an enlargement
of my ticker.

That was the beginning of a downward slide
in health hell. This was about fours years ago.

My condition deterioted to something called
Congestive Heart Failure (it's the same malady
that killed James Brown, "The Hardest
Working Man is Show Business.")

Then things worsened to a horror called Atrial
Fibrillation, which is irregular heart beats. My
heart beats are all over the place, up, down,
sideways...

So my cardiologist sliced open my chest and
inserted a little computer inside my upper chest,
close to the left shoulder.

I love showing off the resulting large bump
under my skin, and getting people (sometimes
even strangers) to rub it. Sometimes it gets
itchy!

Anyways...

One night around midnight, I was having a romantic
moment with my wife when all of a sudden, I got
dizzy and fell into a faint. Later, my wife said that I
was out cold for around twenty seconds or so.

I firmly believe I had died.

All I knew was, I awoke to a loud BAM from
inside my chest. The electric shock from my
Implanted Cardiac Device was so strong, it
literally lifted me up a few inches off the bed.

It felt like a mule had kicked me...with both
hind legs. Funny, but I immediately felt better
afterwards.

Nooo, I didn't see any brightly coloured lights,
or hear any strange music, or see any babies
fluttering about with tiny wings. Though I
knew that I was dead.

(I have difficulty saying that with a
straight face. Ha!)

My wife immediately dialled 911, and an
ambulance whisked me off to Emerge'.
They gave me the once over, and after
seventeen of the longest hours of my
life, they kicked me out.

They told me that ICD unit did its job. It literally
saved my life. It cost twenty G's which the
Canadian governemt paid for...thank God for free
Canadian medicare.

Today, I feel strong. As long as I stay away
from sodium (salt is like poison to me), exercise,
and get plenty of rest, I'll be fine.

I've also been busy marketing (it's in my blood)
to the "deaf" niche.

So now you know what's been happening to
me since I last visited Sowpub. I should have
written sooner. I'm sorry. I promise not to
stay away so long again.

God loves you.
Brent.