Atrioventricular Reentrant Tachycardia

Most of the entries on my blog are not too personal. They almost always reflect personal thoughts or experiences, but I rarely write much about my private life. Today I was tempted to comment about the latest development in the calls for electoral reform by Alternattiva Demokratika (Malta's Green Party).

There's quite a bit to say about this, especially since AD has also applied for a TV station license. In doing this, AD has decided to fight fire with fire with regards to the most undemocratic situation where political parties take over terrestrial TV frequencies, for their own partisan political purposes. These frequencies should be used by private citizens and not by politicial parties. I am very passionate about this topic and I believe that one day soon there will be a revision of this situation, which is unique not only to the EU but also to most (if not all) other democratic countries.

Instead of all this, today I want to share with you something that is very personal. Something about my health: less than 24 hours ago I was diagnosed as having Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) Syndrome. This was quite visible from an Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) test I had yesterday. The medical name for this heart condition is the title for today's blog entry.

WPW Syndrome involves an abnormality in the electrical system that normally tells the heart muscle when to contract. An extra electrical pathway in the heart acts as a short circuit. Impulses coming down this accessory route prematurely excite the ventricle of the heart, causing it to beat too rapidly and, sometimes, ineffectively.

Symptoms of WPW include palpitations, lightheadedness, loss of consciousness, chest pain, fatigue, and a general feeling of unwellness. Most of these symptoms are due to the diminished amount of blood transported by the heart to the brain and other organs. I often feel some of the symptoms, particularly unpleasant sensations of irregular or forceful beating of the heart and dizzy spells. My doctor has instructed me to get an Echocardiogram as soon as possibe so we can take a look at the shape of my heart before we decide what to do next. I have an appointment for an Echocardiogram in two weeks.

Although medications that prevent abnormal rhythms were used extensively in the past, most specialists now recommend radiofrequency catheter ablation as the treatment of choice. This procedure destroys the abnormal electrical pathway. I've been told that in experienced hands radiofrequency catheter ablation can be performed safely with minimal discomfort. This involves placing wires in the heart using x-rays under local anesthesia. The wires are placed in various parts of the heart until the short circuit is found. The short circuit is then destroyed using radiowaves which cannot be felt and do not damage the rest of the heart.

A Normal Heart	Heart with WPW Syndrome

A little fish soup

Following the tomato disaster in Nadur this past weekend, I was somewhat amused to learn about the upcoming Mediterranean Seafood Festival today. I wonder how many Mediterranean countries will be represented at this festival. How many of them will be North African and how many will be European? Or will this be just one big Maltese smorgasboard from a restaurant with an Italian name? What a great marketing idea!

Even more bemusing is the case of 6 Italian fishermen who were arrested by the Armed Forces of Malta early this morning. Apparently they were just fishing in Maltese territorial waters. Fishing in Maltese territorial waters by all foreigners has been illegal for many years, but I would have expected this law to be amended now that Malta is a full member of the EU. Through Medisamak, 11 Mediterranean coastal states receive financial support from the European Union: Albania, Algeria, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Malta, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia.

If it is indeed still illegal for any non-Maltese EU national to fish on a large scale in Maltese territorial waters, I suppose we have encountered one of the first examples where the Maltese government is protecting the economic interests of our country in an assertive way. If this is really the way things are, it almost makes me nostalgic for the days when Malta's way of life was far removed from that in any other country.

Seeking a new President for the U.S.A.

Judging by the reception he received at the Democratic National Convention in Boston last night, Barack Obama could some day become the first black president of the United States! His speech was excellent and the best part was the masterful delivery. It has been quite a while since I saw a politician who spoke powerful words with such grace.

He is currently running for a U.S. senate seat in Illinois, but according to all the political pundits I heard comment about him over the past couple of days, he will be running for president by 2012. What makes this most amazing is that if he is elected to the U.S. Senate this November, he will most probably be the only black senator.

Anyway, I realize that most people reading this do not follow U.S. politics, so I will not elaborate much further. I just wanted to make sure I took a moment to note the arrival of Barack Obama to big-time politics. After listening to him speak at the DNC last night, I truly believe that he will play a significant part in the future of American politics.

A woman's right to choose

Last week, an official Maltese delegation made a medieval spectacle of our country by presenting a conflation of religious beliefs and civil legislation during an official discussion with the United Nations Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The reasons the Maltese government has against full compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women are religious rather than legal.

The main issue is women's reproductive rights. Does a woman have the right to choose whether to reproduce or not? According to Maltese law, the answer is no, never!

I will be the last person to argue against the idea that life begins at conception. However, I am the first person to insist that my views should not be imposed by law on any woman who believes otherwise. Why should I, or anyone else, restrict her option to terminate her pregnancy in a way that is safe for her? There are a number of options for any Maltese woman who seeks an abortion. Why should Maltese law eliminate the possibility of this practice in the safety of a Maltese clinic?

There's no point in asking whether this legislation should be passed in Malta or not. The right question is: when will there be a government that truly represents all to such an extent that it allows citizens to decide for themselves what to believe?

I am not advocating abortion. I am simply arguing for the legal right of anyone who feels that they should have one. In their moment of distress they should not be burdened further by a non-supportive government. Imposing religious beliefs by law on everyone in the land is the sort of thing we associate with the Taliban and other oppressive regimes rather than democratic and progressive governments.

The same line of reasoning goes for divorce too, of course. But that's another argument for another day.