Guest guest Posted August 11, 1999 Report Share Posted August 11, 1999 http://www.duff.net/zapper/update.htm ZapUpdate August 10th 1999 Greetings Everyone! One of the doctors at Indiana University who conducted the latest research on the (lack of) threats to an ICD from (retail) security scanners sent me a note. Dr. Groh says he will join us for an upcoming ZAP•CHAT session. I'll let you know when... as soon as I hear. We are getting about two new participants each week for our online support group! If you haven't taken advantage of this unique gathering, please set aside an hour or two, starting at 8PM (EST) on Thursday. Family members and friends of "'lectric Kangaroos" are also welcome! At last report, there are about 400,000 people across America with an ICD implant. That's a lot less than one percent (1%) of the total population, but (sadly while fortunately) our numbers grow each day. Membership in our club often starts with fear, and I hope all of you who have gotten relief or insight from this publication help others deal with the experience. A personal message: Thanks to ALL of you who took time to send me a birthday greeting last week. I WILL send each of you a personal note when I can. You are all helping me get over my paralyzing fear of my birthday. It's not fright from getting another year older, but a long held belief that August 4th was cursed. One year grandpa died on that day. Another year my dad died. Marilyn Monroe and Lenny Bruce also died on that day. Even before I was born... Ann was arrested by the Nazi police on August 4th (of '44) and my future birthday was sandwiched between the two atomic bombings of Japan. This year, there were only a few minor earthquakes and storms and no celebrity deaths or terrorist attacks. Things are looking up! I got the most interesting EMail this week from one of the people who makes sure our impanted devices work. What do you suppose Ternes, principal electrical engineer at at CPI/Guidant, wanted? He wants to communicate with ZAPPER readers! In his words: I've been on the project design teams for the VENTAK AV, AV II DR, AV III DR and CONTAK CD working mostly on design of the egram sensing control and the telemetry circuitry but I have also been involved in the entire device verification and system testing of those devices. Currently I'm working on an implantable CHF device... ....do you think it would be appropriate to place a request on your BBS asking for somebody with a Guidant device who wants to trade emails? I have a fairly good understanding of the engineering side. I'd like to learn more of the practical and personal implications of what I do. I think 's letter tells us a whole lot about him... and the company for whom he works. In a second note, he described some of the methods CPI uses to stay in touch with us "end users." It's really reassuring to know that little metallic package inside us has an army of people involved in making certain it will perform its life saving mission when we need it. And it's really wonderful to know there are people like who see a human heart... and a human face... connected with each device which he helps build and test. To contact ... EMAIL him at lostllama@... Please stay well..... Duffey, Zapper Publisher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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