I visit an
old guy, as an act of
community service, who is around 80 years old and has had 13
heart attacks. It is amazing that this man is still alive, and it is simply incredible that he still does
gardening and other
physical activities all day.
Perhaps it is because every morning he wakes up feeling awful, reaches for his bed-side table, opens the drawer and gives himself like, a million different pills, and then gives himself the same ones in the afternoon. Whatever he does, it seems to work.
His most recent heart attack occured in September 2000. He woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible pain in his chest. To quote him: "it was really uncomfortable". He could barely move, so he reached for his drawer-which he is only allowed to touch at the specific times-and gave himself a good dose of whatever he has in there. Feeling much better, he went back to sleep.
The next day was his weekly check-up, so off to the doctor's office he went. As the doctor listened to his irregular heart beats, he looked up and asked if anything strange had happened recently. The old guy thought for a bit, then decided to tell the doctor about the event of the previous night, describing the pain and it's location. The doctor stared, open-mouthed.
"Clarence" said the doctor. "You've just had a heart attack."
There was a little pause in the conversation. Finally Clarence looked up and said: "Eh?"