Reflections of a Baby Boomer

Having just had cardiac surgery, open heart style, I've come to appreciate modern medicine and all its complexities. I'm especially amazed at how far it has come in such a short time.

In 1954, a successful series of operations with the controlled cross-circulation technique was performed in which the patient's mother or father was used as a 'heart-lung machine'. Dr. John W. Kirklin at the Mayo Clinic started using a Gibbon type pump-oxygenator in a series of successful operations, and was soon followed by surgeons in various parts of the world.

Imagine how much more advanced this will be in fifty years, or even less. 

Cardiac surgery is as major a surgery as it gets and is not an easy experience, although it is now done routinely all over the world. Fortunately for me, I live in Massachusetts and have access to many great hospitals. I chose Brigham and Womens, one of the best for cardiac care in the world. Many thanks to Dr. John Byrne and his staff.

As Bing Crosby sang in Holiday Inn, "be careful, it's my heart."