Thanksgiving

Yeah, I know, Thanksgiving Day was on Thursday, not today, but I have a reflection. There was no big Stauffer party this year, and Kelly invited me to her place for their Thanksgiving supper. Everybody had a little group of peanuts (substituted for corn kernels) to represent the hardship and food rationing that the Pilgrims faced when establishing their settlement in the New World. For each of these kernels, every one of us was supposed to name something that we are most thankful for. I wanted to list a bunch of stuff, so I tried to think of a way that I could group them together. One of the things I mentioned was being thankful for having plenty of work while many other folks are struggling to find jobs in this economy. Another thing I mentioned was being glad that school is going better this year. The first thing I said was that I'm thankful for though, was all of the changes in the past year, and that entails a lot of things. A year ago I was looking for some answers. I can't say that I've found them all, but at least some. I've seen some good times and some bad times, mostly good though. I've been reminded several times throughout this year that not everything we have is necessarily entitled to us, and when you realize that it has a way of making you more grateful for what you have. This was most profoundly brought to my attention when our neighbors, the Randy Fields family, had a house fire and lost basically everything. I've also seen some other tragic occurrences, but usually with people I don't know. As mentioned, I've seen some good times too. One of the highlights of this year so far was going to Haiti. That was, in part, sort of an answer seeking endeavor, and I didn't come away empty handed. That was at the end of the summer, and the following week I returned to Alvernia for the fall semester. A few weeks later, I met Kelly! Now there is a change that I'm really really thankful for, and also a great highlight of this year. I could say a lot about that, but would rather keep it private between her and I. All I will say here is "nothing but grins and no regrets," and "Wow! What an amazing friend."
Every once in a while I come up with a new word. Besides that, I also seem to harp on themes. For centuries, philosophers have been trying to find and describe "the good life." If there is one thing that I found myself saying or thinking frequently about 8-12 months ago, it was "There is a better life to be had." I applied that statement to many situations. I've found some answers, and I've found a friend. In light of having that in mind for a long time, now in the last 4-5 months, there is another theme that keeps becoming apparent, but I'm not exactly sure of how to word it. It's something like this: "God has the game plan, so just step up to the plate and play ball. He'll call the shots, just pay attention and do your thing. Either step up to the plate, or get out of the game. Getting out of the game is a really foolish thing, and not to be considered even in the slightest way, so get ahold of that bat already, will ya'!Carpe diem."

My new word

If you have been reading my blog for quite a while, or if you look back through my archives, you might remember that on a few occasions I've mentioned having a new word. Well, it's that time again. I have a new word. You won't find this one in the dictionary, and not even a google search will get you any results. That is because the word has not been coined yet. I just invented it myself, so it truly is my new word. And the word is...... a-hem.... drum roll please........

Euphorrhythmia

The prefix "euphor" refers to gladness, uncontainable excitement, great joy, pleasure, exceeding happiness, elation, or a wonderful state of mind. It is most commonly used in the English vocabulary in the word euphoria, which you might be more familiar with.
The suffix, "rhythmia" refers to the activity of the heart muscle. In health care, we commonly refer to dysrhythmia and arrhythmia interchangeably as broad terms for a large variety of abnormal heart rhythms, which are a problem for the patient. A very common example of this is atrial fibrillation, where the chambers at the top of the heart (called atria) are not pumping blood into the lower part of the heart (called ventricles) regularly. That is only one example, but a very common one.

Personally, I don't like to talk about a patient having an "arrhythmia," and I don't use that word interchangeably with "dysrhythmia" like other folks do, because the prefix "a" in "arrhythmia" refers to having no, none, or absent. To me, that means that the patient is dead, because they have no rythm. If they have no cardiac rythm, then their heart must not be pumping blood, and that is obviously not compatible with life. The only true arrhythmia that I know of is a flat line on an EKG (electrocardiogram), but most other health care providers wouldn't agree with me on that. So, while the majority of healthcare providers use the words arrythmia and dysrhythmia interchangeably, I only use the word dysrhythmia when talking about live patients.

Now you know that arrhythmia and dysrhythmia are health care terms used to refer to cardiac problems that some patients have. So, what is a euphorrhythmia? Well, it is something that I have experienced, and I mean more than once recently. It's certainly not a problem. It's not like a chest pain or pressure. It's not something I'm going to go get checked out at the local emergency department. I don't need a doctor to tell me what it is. Quite the opposite, it is a healthy sign of life! In my own words....

Euphorrhythmia: the very real physically felt sensation that one gets inside of the their chest, substernally, where their heart "skips a beat" or gives a transient sensation of flutter followed by a warm flushing sensation similar to what the face feels like when turning red, as a result of being awestruck, dumbstruck, flabbergasted, starry-eyed, twitterpated, suddenly astonished, intensely amazed, or pleasantly surprised. The occurrence of a euphorrhythmia differs from a palpitation in that palpitations are alarming and concerning to the patient, but euphorrhythmias are desirable, ticklish, and good.

Recently, I've been getting brief euphorrhythmias when I get a text message from Kelly, or when she gives me that cute little smile, or sometimes when I ring the doorbell at her place and she answers the door, or for a variety of other similar Kelly-related phenomena. So, there you have it.... euphorrhythmia. I think it should be added to the dictionary. I'm adding it to my vocabulary, and won't be too bashful about it.