Canada: Undiagnosed Asthma Like all good post-olympic 50 something Canadian men, I took extra pregame time to evaluate my hockey equipment and showed up at the ice for the “big” (pick up/ no ref) game with new gloves, a couple of new screws in my helmet, and sharp skates. First shift: two on one pass from my nephew the doctor…. and... GOAL. Shift number two: same play, two on one pass from my nephew the doctor, and into the boards feet first. SNAP CRACKLE POP and that’s the season over, with a compound left leg break. 24 hours later, when coming out of general anesthesia after a very successful surgery, by the surgeon who interestingly was on the other team and kindly helped me off the ice, four faces were yelling at me to breathe. 5 hours later, now hooked up to everything in ICU, I looked more like an 90 year old man with a heart/lung condition than a healthy 50 year old living the dream. The diagnosis: previously undiagnosed asthma. Asthma basically means that the pipeline committed to transferring energy - in this case oxygen from the lungs to the heart - is compromised. From my ICU perspective it’s a moot point whether the problem is the lungs, the pulmonary artery, or the heart; I’m a healthy 50 years old and I’ll be needing energy for many years to come, so let’s fix the problem. I used to think of Canada as a young healthy 50 year old: smart, strong, full of resources, ready to lead by example, defender of functional democracy. The world needs energy like my body needs oxygen. When the supply chain fatigues, stalls out, or under-delivers, the natural outcome is that someone else fills the need - often someone unstable, dysfunctional, and corrupt. The end result is that Canada loses out on its chance to influence the world with our core values and human rights. The corrupt systems profit and fuel further dysfunction and pain, and we Canadians end up on the sidelines on a puffer watching the game pass us by. Let’s get back in the game - build world class pipelines, ports, mines, and systems, and lead the world in functional democratic energy delivery.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 04:35:57 +0000
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