Dick Cheney has no Pulse

Doing a little cooking this afternoon including preparing a marinade for what I predict is going to be a VERY tasty pork ragout to be served at Elderburg tomorrow evening.  Lean pork cubes are now soaking in a mixture of fresh mint and dill, raisins, dried apricots, cumin, thyme, salt, pepper, red wine and red wine vinegar. 

During the course of preparing the marinade I was listening to the Rachel Maddow Show.  One of her guests was a heart surgeon who described the procedure Mr. Cheney underwent last week to treat his congestive heart failure. Apparently Dick's ticker just can't pump enough blood these days.

So last week a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) was implanted in his chest and attached to his heart.  The guts of this device is an impeller that spins at a high RPM pushing the blood through his heart and body.  The doctor brought one of the devices into the studio.  It looks remarkably similar in configuration and size to a bilge pump for a small boat.  The device is powered by an external battery pack that he can strap to his belly - the wiring connected to his device through a small incision.  At night he has to be hooked up to a wall outlet.

Dick Cheney's New and Improved Heart   

I had never heard of this device before and was fascinated.  One of the odd side-effects of the implant is that the host no longer has a pulse...the blood is steadily impelled through the body as opposed to being pumped in a normal heart rhythm.  So...Dick Cheney has no pulse...life imitates art once again...  Hah!