[JshWright]

>But this is exactly what I'm taling about; I'm hoping for a time when medical science has progressed to a point where these issues are very well understood, and seemingly random cardiac arrests like this can be preempted and prevented. I believe it's possible.

This is simply a discussion of semantics, and I feel kind of silly for arguing it in the first place. You're absolutely correct that most of the 'random' sudden cardiac deaths that occur are in fact related to a previously unknown preexisting condition. Wolff-Parkinson-White, congenital long Q-T, and a variety of cardiomyopathies (most of them congenital as well) can easily predispose someone to dropping dead.

[mikestew]

Wolf-Parkinson's, that's me. I was a highly-trained and mostly-healthy bike racer and would occasionally get a rapid, arythmic heart beat under certain conditions that would last for sometimes hours. Finally went in to get it checked, and when I asked "doesn't that result in sudden death in athletes?" He said if it hadn't killed me by now it probably wasn't going to. One heart ablation and it hasn't bothered me since.

My rambling point is that, yeah, "perfect health" sometimes isn't. And a few pieces of heart tissue that grew just a little differently could have meant I'm not writing this despite being a life long endurance athlete. I can't say it's changed my outlook on life much, though.

[apr]

Did you feel anything during the ablation procedure?

[mikestew]

Sorry for the late reply, I don't have reply notifications set up. During the ablation itself, I felt nothing because I was drugged. However, they have to repro the problem in order to know what to zap. That was an interesting process with all kinds of non-painful (though not entirely pleasant) stuff to feel. The details are still up if you care: http://psychocross.blogspot.com/2007/10/next-in-continuing-s...

[apr]

Thank you.