I met today with at least a dozen folks at Boston Scientific (BSC),
where I'd been invited to share my findings a person (me) with
implanted cardioverter doing welding with processes that involve an
electric arc. There are several such processes in common use. My
interest and investigation focussed on two such processes that I've
used and want to continue to use. You may recall that the usual
guidance is "don't do it" and that I wasn't satisfied with that
broad-brush treatment so I did a bit of investigation. The good folks
at BSC were very helpful about providing me technical info beyond
"don't do it", and they were very interested in my findings.

They have a huge campus in a northern suburb of St. Paul. I had no
idea they were this large. See attached satellite shot. I know the
parts contained in my red outline are Guidant (now BSC) and some of
the buildings outside my red bound may also be theirs. Upon arrival
I was met by Ken and we walked thru a long skyway encircled in yellow
on the attached sat view. This skyway has display cases showing
their history, and the walls are lined with many hundreds of patent
plaques.

There are 8 senior technical fellows on this campus, four of them
attended this meeting. I suspect that is quite unusual. In my
experience, it usually takes at least a vice presidential presence to
get more than two or three senior fellows in the same meeting. The
rep who assisted with my implant was also there. They showed me a
Telegen that was all taken apart so I could see what was inside. They
loved it when I got my magnifying glass out of my pocket. "Does that
lens have video?" "Oh yeah, spread-spectrum wireless -- see that
innocent-looking van down there in the parking lot?"

They make their own capacitors, lithium-iodine batteries and titanium
cans. Guidant actually pioneered the use of lithium-iodine batteries
in these devices, Medtronic followed somewhat later. During an
excellent lunch they told me quite a lot about the device I have,
including the signal processing technology used -- fascinating! The
presenter was delighted to see that I was tracking just fine. When
I'd paraphrase to check my understanding he'd beam and say "yes!
That's exactly right!" I also saw some history. Implanting a
cardioverter as recently as the 80's was a big deal: several hours of
surgery which included splitting the sternum and sewing a conductive
patch to the heart. The devices were nearly the size of a paperback
book. I'm definitely glad I waited. I got to see leads like those
that were snaked thru my veins and lodged in my heart. I can see how
that's a tricky bit of work. The physician is guided by real-time
fluoroscopy but it's still a good trick to get a lead to take a hard
left when it must do so to get where it needs to be.

Then it was my turn. I'd prepared a powerpoint presentation just to
remain more or less organized ... but I had NO "bullet" word slides.
I purely hate those impediments to discourse. I brought it on an USB
stick because Ken had said all of their conference rooms have 'puters
and projectors that someone presumably has made work together. That
seemed simpler than messing with my laptop.

My slides were all photographs of the instrumentation I built, lab
setups, scans of pages from my lab databook including scribbles and
X-outs, oscilloscope screen shots, etc. I suppose I spoke for
about 45 minutes not including discussion time. I invited open
discussion and spontaneous questions any time. The atmosphere was
very casual and collegial. I brought most of the hardware I'd built
as "finger food" to pass around and look at. Engineers love "real
stuff".

They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. One asked, "you did all of this
in a week and a half?" "Uh, more like 5 days ... but I was
motivated!" At another juncture someone asked how I might choose
between welding processes as in TIG vs MIG. I gave several reasons,
including that TIG is much more amenable to precise welding of small
objects like "butt welding needles together." I got an odd look.
"Why on Earth would you butt-weld needles together?" I grinned and
said, "hey, I'm retired, I don't have to make sense!" They loved
it. These folks clearly care about what they do beyond production of
income. They see preservation and extension of quality life as what
they do. There are signs in the parking lot depicting active people
doing what they want to do. Welding was and is something I wanted to
continue doing, and by golly I'm doing it.

I heard one comment, "not exactly our typical customer..." Another
said "geez, kin we hire him?" The general impression seemed to be
that they were amazed at how thorough I had been in the limited time I
had. That was easy to explain: avoidance of mulekicks to chest is
an excellent motivator.

One younger engineer, maybe mid-30's, introduced himself as being
pretty much the fields and EMI guy. His name was Kippola. I said,
"are you a Finn?" The tech rep lady looked at me like "did you really
say that?" but Mr. Kippola grinned, said "yup"! "Michigan Tech?" He
beamed. "Yup!" "AW RIGHT! We're probably the only two in the room
that can pronounce sauna correctly." He laughed and agreed.

It is possible to trick this device with an external magnet to either
disable delivery of shock therapy or just to record what it's seeing.
It can then be remotely interrogated -- it has wireless telemetry. I
knew this before but the doc slammed that lid shut right now. Today
the tech rep sorta conspiratorally said that she'd be talking to both
my Dr. and the device nurse. This could get interesting. I was
impressed with her immediately upon first meeting post-implant, in my
hospital room early next morning. High-energy, totally open to my
many questions and she had answers.

I left a CD with them that has my powerpoint slides, all of my data,
mfrs datasheets of key parts I used to make my instrumentation,
photos, etc etc that pretty much documents everything I did, how I did
it and why, what I was thinking, and my results and conclusions.
Someone mentioned patent possibilities. I said as far as I'm
concerned my stuff is all available free to anyone interested. I
won't post it, though, because it's 65 megs.

They gave me a lapel pin that I think is a total hoot: it's a red
heart with a yellow lightning bolt. They actually gave me two of
them, one for Mary. They also gave me a very nice polo shirt with
"Boston Scientific" embroidered over the pocket.

It was a lot of fun. I had a great time today!

Don Foreman wrote:
I met today with at least a dozen folks at Boston Scientific (BSC),
where I'd been invited to share my findings a person (me) with
implanted cardioverter doing welding with processes that involve an
electric arc. There are several such processes in common use. My
interest and investigation focussed on two such processes that I've
used and want to continue to use. You may recall that the usual
guidance is "don't do it" and that I wasn't satisfied with that
broad-brush treatment so I did a bit of investigation. The good folks
at BSC were very helpful about providing me technical info beyond
"don't do it", and they were very interested in my findings.

They have a huge campus in a northern suburb of St. Paul. I had no
idea they were this large. See attached satellite shot. I know the
parts contained in my red outline are Guidant (now BSC) and some of
the buildings outside my red bound may also be theirs. Upon arrival
I was met by Ken and we walked thru a long skyway encircled in yellow
on the attached sat view. This skyway has display cases showing
their history, and the walls are lined with many hundreds of patent
plaques.

There are 8 senior technical fellows on this campus, four of them
attended this meeting. I suspect that is quite unusual. In my
experience, it usually takes at least a vice presidential presence to
get more than two or three senior fellows in the same meeting. The
rep who assisted with my implant was also there. They showed me a
Telegen that was all taken apart so I could see what was inside. They
loved it when I got my magnifying glass out of my pocket. "Does that
lens have video?" "Oh yeah, spread-spectrum wireless -- see that
innocent-looking van down there in the parking lot?"

They make their own capacitors, lithium-iodine batteries and titanium
cans. Guidant actually pioneered the use of lithium-iodine batteries
in these devices, Medtronic followed somewhat later. During an
excellent lunch they told me quite a lot about the device I have,
including the signal processing technology used -- fascinating! The
presenter was delighted to see that I was tracking just fine. When
I'd paraphrase to check my understanding he'd beam and say "yes!
That's exactly right!" I also saw some history. Implanting a
cardioverter as recently as the 80's was a big deal: several hours of
surgery which included splitting the sternum and sewing a conductive
patch to the heart. The devices were nearly the size of a paperback
book. I'm definitely glad I waited. I got to see leads like those
that were snaked thru my veins and lodged in my heart. I can see how
that's a tricky bit of work. The physician is guided by real-time
fluoroscopy but it's still a good trick to get a lead to take a hard
left when it must do so to get where it needs to be.

Then it was my turn. I'd prepared a powerpoint presentation just to
remain more or less organized ... but I had NO "bullet" word slides.
I purely hate those impediments to discourse. I brought it on an USB
stick because Ken had said all of their conference rooms have 'puters
and projectors that someone presumably has made work together. That
seemed simpler than messing with my laptop.

My slides were all photographs of the instrumentation I built, lab
setups, scans of pages from my lab databook including scribbles and
X-outs, oscilloscope screen shots, etc. I suppose I spoke for
about 45 minutes not including discussion time. I invited open
discussion and spontaneous questions any time. The atmosphere was
very casual and collegial. I brought most of the hardware I'd built
as "finger food" to pass around and look at. Engineers love "real
stuff".

They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. One asked, "you did all of this
in a week and a half?" "Uh, more like 5 days ... but I was
motivated!" At another juncture someone asked how I might choose
between welding processes as in TIG vs MIG. I gave several reasons,
including that TIG is much more amenable to precise welding of small
objects like "butt welding needles together." I got an odd look.
"Why on Earth would you butt-weld needles together?" I grinned and
said, "hey, I'm retired, I don't have to make sense!" They loved
it. These folks clearly care about what they do beyond production of
income. They see preservation and extension of quality life as what
they do. There are signs in the parking lot depicting active people
doing what they want to do. Welding was and is something I wanted to
continue doing, and by golly I'm doing it.

I heard one comment, "not exactly our typical customer..." Another
said "geez, kin we hire him?" The general impression seemed to be
that they were amazed at how thorough I had been in the limited time I
had. That was easy to explain: avoidance of mulekicks to chest is
an excellent motivator.

One younger engineer, maybe mid-30's, introduced himself as being
pretty much the fields and EMI guy. His name was Kippola. I said,
"are you a Finn?" The tech rep lady looked at me like "did you really
say that?" but Mr. Kippola grinned, said "yup"! "Michigan Tech?" He
beamed. "Yup!" "AW RIGHT! We're probably the only two in the room
that can pronounce sauna correctly." He laughed and agreed.

It is possible to trick this device with an external magnet to either
disable delivery of shock therapy or just to record what it's seeing.
It can then be remotely interrogated -- it has wireless telemetry. I
knew this before but the doc slammed that lid shut right now. Today
the tech rep sorta conspiratorally said that she'd be talking to both
my Dr. and the device nurse. This could get interesting. I was
impressed with her immediately upon first meeting post-implant, in my
hospital room early next morning. High-energy, totally open to my
many questions and she had answers.

I left a CD with them that has my powerpoint slides, all of my data,
mfrs datasheets of key parts I used to make my instrumentation,
photos, etc etc that pretty much documents everything I did, how I did
it and why, what I was thinking, and my results and conclusions.
Someone mentioned patent possibilities. I said as far as I'm
concerned my stuff is all available free to anyone interested. I
won't post it, though, because it's 65 megs.

They gave me a lapel pin that I think is a total hoot: it's a red
heart with a yellow lightning bolt. They actually gave me two of
them, one for Mary. They also gave me a very nice polo shirt with
"Boston Scientific" embroidered over the pocket.

It was a lot of fun. I had a great time today!

That is great! Isn't it wonderful to interact with intelligent people
once in a while?
cheers
T.Alan

Don Foreman wrote:

They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. One asked, "you did all of this
in a week and a half?" "Uh, more like 5 days ... but I was
motivated!" At another juncture someone asked how I might choose
between welding processes as in TIG vs MIG. I gave several reasons,
including that TIG is much more amenable to precise welding of small
objects like "butt welding needles together." I got an odd look.
"Why on Earth would you butt-weld needles together?" I grinned and
said, "hey, I'm retired, I don't have to make sense!" They loved
it. These folks clearly care about what they do beyond production of
income. They see preservation and extension of quality life as what
they do. There are signs in the parking lot depicting active people
doing what they want to do. Welding was and is something I wanted to
continue doing, and by golly I'm doing it.

Having a customer that is a member of their peer group that has an interest in exploring
the fringe areas where their product will meet the real world had to make for a very
interesting day for them.

Your post recent update jogged me to play with a hall sensor I bought for a buck or so. It
notices my small sample pack of Neodymium magnets at about 7 inches. Worked fine after I
re-read the datasheet. Damn, wrong pins. At least I didn't fry it.

Wes

On Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:06:44 -0600, Don Foreman
wrote:

Do they need someone to carefully weld up the titanium cans?

BG

Mark Rand
RTFM

"Don Foreman" wrote in message
...


Then it was my turn. I'd prepared a powerpoint presentation just to
remain more or less organized ... but I had NO "bullet" word slides.
I purely hate those impediments to discourse.

Cool meeting and good observation on the powerpoint slides- the less words
the better, for the most part.

Don Foreman wrote:
I met today with at least a dozen folks at Boston Scientific (BSC),
where I'd been invited to share my findings a person (me) with
implanted cardioverter doing welding with processes that involve an
electric arc. There are several such processes in common use. My
interest and investigation focussed on two such processes that I've
used and want to continue to use. You may recall that the usual
guidance is "don't do it" and that I wasn't satisfied with that
broad-brush treatment so I did a bit of investigation. The good folks
at BSC were very helpful about providing me technical info beyond
"don't do it", and they were very interested in my findings.

They have a huge campus in a northern suburb of St. Paul. I had no
idea they were this large. See attached satellite shot. I know the
parts contained in my red outline are Guidant (now BSC) and some of
the buildings outside my red bound may also be theirs. Upon arrival
I was met by Ken and we walked thru a long skyway encircled in yellow
on the attached sat view. This skyway has display cases showing
their history, and the walls are lined with many hundreds of patent
plaques.

There are 8 senior technical fellows on this campus, four of them
attended this meeting. I suspect that is quite unusual. In my
experience, it usually takes at least a vice presidential presence to
get more than two or three senior fellows in the same meeting. The
rep who assisted with my implant was also there. They showed me a
Telegen that was all taken apart so I could see what was inside. They
loved it when I got my magnifying glass out of my pocket. "Does that
lens have video?" "Oh yeah, spread-spectrum wireless -- see that
innocent-looking van down there in the parking lot?"

They make their own capacitors, lithium-iodine batteries and titanium
cans. Guidant actually pioneered the use of lithium-iodine batteries
in these devices, Medtronic followed somewhat later. During an
excellent lunch they told me quite a lot about the device I have,
including the signal processing technology used -- fascinating! The
presenter was delighted to see that I was tracking just fine. When
I'd paraphrase to check my understanding he'd beam and say "yes!
That's exactly right!" I also saw some history. Implanting a
cardioverter as recently as the 80's was a big deal: several hours of
surgery which included splitting the sternum and sewing a conductive
patch to the heart. The devices were nearly the size of a paperback
book. I'm definitely glad I waited. I got to see leads like those
that were snaked thru my veins and lodged in my heart. I can see how
that's a tricky bit of work. The physician is guided by real-time
fluoroscopy but it's still a good trick to get a lead to take a hard
left when it must do so to get where it needs to be.

Then it was my turn. I'd prepared a powerpoint presentation just to
remain more or less organized ... but I had NO "bullet" word slides.
I purely hate those impediments to discourse. I brought it on an USB
stick because Ken had said all of their conference rooms have 'puters
and projectors that someone presumably has made work together. That
seemed simpler than messing with my laptop.

My slides were all photographs of the instrumentation I built, lab
setups, scans of pages from my lab databook including scribbles and
X-outs, oscilloscope screen shots, etc. I suppose I spoke for
about 45 minutes not including discussion time. I invited open
discussion and spontaneous questions any time. The atmosphere was
very casual and collegial. I brought most of the hardware I'd built
as "finger food" to pass around and look at. Engineers love "real
stuff".

They seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. One asked, "you did all of this
in a week and a half?" "Uh, more like 5 days ... but I was
motivated!" At another juncture someone asked how I might choose
between welding processes as in TIG vs MIG. I gave several reasons,
including that TIG is much more amenable to precise welding of small
objects like "butt welding needles together." I got an odd look.
"Why on Earth would you butt-weld needles together?" I grinned and
said, "hey, I'm retired, I don't have to make sense!" They loved
it. These folks clearly care about what they do beyond production of
income. They see preservation and extension of quality life as what
they do. There are signs in the parking lot depicting active people
doing what they want to do. Welding was and is something I wanted to
continue doing, and by golly I'm doing it.

I heard one comment, "not exactly our typical customer..." Another
said "geez, kin we hire him?" The general impression seemed to be
that they were amazed at how thorough I had been in the limited time I
had. That was easy to explain: avoidance of mulekicks to chest is
an excellent motivator.

One younger engineer, maybe mid-30's, introduced himself as being
pretty much the fields and EMI guy. His name was Kippola. I said,
"are you a Finn?" The tech rep lady looked at me like "did you really
say that?" but Mr. Kippola grinned, said "yup"! "Michigan Tech?" He
beamed. "Yup!" "AW RIGHT! We're probably the only two in the room
that can pronounce sauna correctly." He laughed and agreed.

It is possible to trick this device with an external magnet to either
disable delivery of shock therapy or just to record what it's seeing.
It can then be remotely interrogated -- it has wireless telemetry. I
knew this before but the doc slammed that lid shut right now. Today
the tech rep sorta conspiratorally said that she'd be talking to both
my Dr. and the device nurse. This could get interesting. I was
impressed with her immediately upon first meeting post-implant, in my
hospital room early next morning. High-energy, totally open to my
many questions and she had answers.

I left a CD with them that has my powerpoint slides, all of my data,
mfrs datasheets of key parts I used to make my instrumentation,
photos, etc etc that pretty much documents everything I did, how I did
it and why, what I was thinking, and my results and conclusions.
Someone mentioned patent possibilities. I said as far as I'm
concerned my stuff is all available free to anyone interested. I
won't post it, though, because it's 65 megs.

They gave me a lapel pin that I think is a total hoot: it's a red
heart with a yellow lightning bolt. They actually gave me two of
them, one for Mary. They also gave me a very nice polo shirt with
"Boston Scientific" embroidered over the pocket.

It was a lot of fun. I had a great time today!

Very coo, tanks for the report.

PP bullet points. I just hate when someone stands in front of the
room and reads their bullet points.
I endeavor to avoid those when i do one.