My heart and I

This article originally appeared in the October 2022 edition of the journal Comet.

How many people are – like me – taking for granted all the wondrous things going on inside our bodies to keep us doing all that we do on a daily, and nightly, basis? Unless…. unless something happens to shake us up. Like, for instance, atrial fibrillation.

I’ve known about AF (as I’ve come to call it) for a long time, but only at a distance. My sister had it for many years, until cured by a successful procedure. My sister-in-law has had it for a long time, but has been free of the fluttering episodes since (coincidentally?) making some dietary changes that were recommended by a naturopath. And, as both of them had been living pretty normal lives with it, I’ve always regarded it as nothing serious. Which is right.

But, when you suddenly find yourself being knocked around by a fluttering heart, it can certainly shake you up out of your complacency. Suddenly, as you actually feel this amazing organ banging against your chest instead of – as usual – quietly going about its business, it most definitely captures your attention. And so it should. Since doing biology at school, I have always known that the heart keeps busy doing its thing of keeping me alive by pumping oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout my body to sustain my life.

What I did not know was that what WebMD describes as “this fist-sized powerhouse” expands and contracts as it beats “100,000 times per day, pumping five or six quarts of blood each minute, or about 2,000 gallons per day”. That is simply (and tautologically) gobsmackingly amazing. How long could any piece of machinery which does all of that without pause go on without needing to be replaced? And yet, here I am, with my 80-year-old heart still doing its thing.

But, as pointed out by the Victorian Government’s Better Health site, it turns out – not surprisingly – that “the occurrence of AF increases with age (and, therefore, ageing of the heart)”. That’s not the only cause, of course, but as – having a healthy heart and healthy lifestyle – I don’t have any of the other risk factors that were listed, I accept the fact that the main explanation is just that my body is finally showing some signs of running down. Fortunately, there are various treatments for this condition, and I’m being rigorous in maintaining my new pill-taking regimen of beta-blockers and blood thinners.  

And  I’m now treating my valiantly beating heart with a whole lot more conscious respect, as it lets me know how to set the pace for the rest of my days.

Anne Ring ©2022