On Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:52:22 -0600, Don Foreman
wrote:

Ahhhm back! All's well. Nuthin' hurts to speak of. I'm not permitted
to raise my left arm above shoulder height for a month. That's OK, I
didn't know the answer anyway and I sure know better than to
volunteer. G

Voluntering the answer isn't nearly as dangerous as complaining
about the cooking.

(Ref. 'Moose Turd Pie' - "...But it's good, though!")

Everything went smoothly. The folks at Mercy Heart were terrific
(again).

I learned that the electrophysiologist (MD) quite typically defers
"programming" and testing of the device to a company rep while the doc
handles medical and surgical matters. There's also an
anasthesiologist present. They merely sedate the patient for the
procedure, then put him to sleep when they test it by inducing
fibrillation to see if the device corrects it. (It did.)

The rep was quite aware of my interests. He kidded me a bit about the
volume of email at his employer the past few days.

Well, you know that you got their attention when their internal
E-mail queues are exploding with all the back and forth. Now you have
to follow through and keep bugging the **** outta them till they give
you all the answers you need, and in sufficient detail...

Solely to make you shut up and go away. ;-P

If the local Doc isn't getting with the program, ease him into the
idea. First step is to ask if he has any surgical tools like
spreaders and retractors that are /almost/ right for the task. Then
you volunteer to modify the stock one to work exactly the way he wants
- "Oh, but that will involve TIG welding..."

-- Bruce --