Koi Pond minus the Koi

Koi pond looks great! I have plants and clean water and a filter, but the Koi ... jumped out sometime today. None of the other fish did, so this is sorta a bummer. He was really pretty- mostly white with a few black and red spots.

Did I mention how I estimated the proper measurements for the tub? I measured the diameter
of the tub and divided by to to get the radius (r= 11.38 in). Area of a circle is πr^2, so then I calculated the area (A= 406 in^2).

Next I measured the height of the tub (h= 15 in), and the calculated the volume as Ah (V= 6094 in^3).


One gallon of water takes up (given) 231 in^3 and weighs 8.33 lbs. Therefore the tub can hold a maximum of 26.38 gallons of water which weighs a hair less than 210 lbs.

To complicate matters, proper pump flow should filter or exchange the entire volume of water 4X per hour to keep the tank clean, but not faster or it will wear the fish out. That means I needed a pump that would move ~100 gallons of water per hour, which I had shipped to me.

In other news, I baked at the Marriott the other day and look absolutely fabulous. I am so tan, so to illustrate, I put on a whit shirt so you can see the contrast. Picts of my apt will come later after I clean!

I'm 25 today!

That is so depressing. Half my life, poof. At least I have my health... no wait, sigh. I'm getting old. Josh's birthday was yeserday. He's 21 now. I never expected we'd be this old, time is going fast!

So for my birthday I got a mattress foam pad so my back doesn't break. I also got a laser pointer to point at things in class (hehehehe). Then in another package I got my fish filter stuff and my koi pond is fully set up with 1 koi and 7 talapia. The talapia I got from school; they've been cleaning out the ponds eek. The koi is tri-colored and looks like a calico cat.

I also got my NEW dog from school. She's a vicious monster that salivates when she sees black men wanting to taste the fear in them. Ok, but really, if she bites one more person she's a dead dog. No one's been nipped in my presence, but her last foster had a wound that took a month to heal. She's a really good guard dog, and I feel really safe at night with her around. Yessirre, a purebred Kittitian mutt... and scared of the ocean, go fig.

What else? Oh the internet is good. Got a modem and plugged it in about 5 min ago. I'm heading out to Ziggy's now though and will be sleeping in tomorrow.

Oh wow, did someone tell Jorge it was my birthday!?

No Internet

Uhuh... anyway, I'm still alive. No internet. Maybe soon? The hotel we stayed at is completely trashed. THE beaches ARE SO different.

I learned how to drive a standard. Very interesting. Will tell you more later.

I am moved... but good thing I was prepared for Dean. I'm living off my hurricane rations since I lack the ability to cook or have hot water. (Very cold showers.) Got good guard dog though who sorta has proved herself already.

Test drove $1500 car. Does not make it to beach. Does not make it half way to the beach. Returned this morning. NOW trying to buy a maroon one for $1000US (asking $1250US). Looks like sh*t but drives great, not leaking, and not overheating. We shall see.

Now, must find food-- starving. Too many Chef Boyardee (sp?) ravioli over the weekend. Also need to get Koi.

During the Storm

It's pretty windy and overcast here. I'm shocked that nothing is closed. (Click on pict to make it big.)

A friend too me to the fire station and I got a drivers license. Then she went to the bank so she could get funds for her Puerto Rico trip next week, while I perused the grocery store. To my surprise they were 1) open, and 2) still had water. They did not have pineapple juice, wheat thins, or lemon juice, which happened to be the 3 things I had forgotten to get Monday.

Then we went to the Marriott to exchange her EC for US. The Marriott is the only place on the island on lock down. Guests are wearing wrist bands and are confined to their rooms! The casino was closed and the shops were closed and I really had to pee so I sweet talked the people into letting me into one of their closed bathrooms for some much needed relief.

Next we went to SNIC which is island insurance. I'm now officially on my friend's insurance so that I can drive her to the airport. The cost- $3.26EC ($1.20US) since I'll be 25 in 6 days. If I were already 25, it would be free. When I get car insurance it'll be $662.00EC ( $245US) for a YEAR. Wow. I think that's the amount that my mom paid every month per little brother. My insurance (as a good driver) was ~$60US/mo, which was cheaper than all my friends. This will be good since my living expenses are going up with my new apt.

After that we went to Domino's Pizza. I'm currently eating a deep dish medium half canadian bacon-pineapple and half black olive- mushroom. Numie numies. Then I think I will nap and start moving.

Hurricane Dean is apparently a category 3 now. Power went out earlier, but now back. Still raining, it's 5pm. I have picts though! Off to another Hurricane Party downstairs.

Still raining, 7:30pm. Wow, compare the water from another pict. I live on a clif 50 ft above the ocean. Those are big waves. It's gotten worse since that pict taken at 3pm.

Before the Storm

Ross evacuated the med school campus on Dominica. St Kitts is further north, so we will stay. The TS#4 that turned into TS Dean is now Hurricane Dean. The wind here has picked up significantly. Imagine picts of coconut trees in hurricanes without the rain and clouds.

I will tell you more in a min, but right now gots to run down the street and secure an apt.

More fun. Ross closed our school and canceled exams for tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't have an exam tomorrow, so this does not affect me. It's so neat though! Ross is all hunkered down. I feel like I'm in one of those nature documentary movies. I've also become an expert at the bus system... but I'm the only white girl on the buses, so I get some strange looks... from locals and classmates alike.

I forgot to mention yesterday, when taking my Physio exam, and we all know I'm crazy, I started hearing things. Sounded like someone was trying to get in or trying to bounce a ball on the wall. It's bugging me, but I try to concentrate. As the minutes ticked noise was all around me and above me. So delusions set in and I ask the proctor if she could hear the noise, which she couldn't and I got the 'you a crazy girl' look and was moved to a different room. When I turned in my exam, she said with a big smile on her face, "You're not crazy, and they aren't rats." I look confused and she continues excitedly, "They're crabs!" Only on St. Kitts would giant land crabs invade the rafters of a building. Now that i know this, the SGA president said that from time to time they fall thru the roof when you're studying too. What fun!

Something else happened yesterday... no today, this morning! I saw another ghost. So I stayed at a friends house so that we could study together. I woke up quite early with an everly increasing pineal gland. I had my hot tea, etc etc, was studying. Her roommate came out to the living room and I scared him, then he left for school. She woke up and came out to the living room. We were talking and I turned to go to the bathroom to pee, and I swear I saw a person in black pants walk into her room. She sighed and said she sees him too sometimes. I thought great, just what I need to start an exam with in the morning.

The first official ghost I saw was back in Jan/Feb at my dad's house. Her name is Edna, the late wife of Jean who my dad bought the house from. She was whitish light or cloud and came in the front door of his apartment, checked on me (which scared the you-know-what out of me) and then went into the shower. The shower turned on for a while and then turned off. I was creeped.

Oh went to the movies tonight too and saw Harry Potter. I don't know if I've mentioned the theatre here, but the bottom is infested with rats and the floor and walls peal and it looks haunted. It is an experience and next time I'll smuggle my camera in to show ya'll.

Then went to Hurricane Party at Ziggy's on the beach. Had 2 pina coladas (so good) and then ate a ton of hot wings (craving). And now it's ~3am, very windy, with a very choppy sea. Seems like storm has hit then it doesn't. Is coming in waves or the arms of the storm maybe.

They laughed at Chicken Little too.

So what do ya know, there really might be a storm in the Atlantic. Oh did my friends and professors tease me after I sent out the text message that said the sky was falling, on possibly Friday, the last day of our exams. Looks like a hurricane to me. I might be Chicken Little, but I have tons of clean water!

Ok, to be less melodramatic, Ross finally sent an email out stating: "Tropical Depression # 4 is nearing the Lesser Antilles. See news blurbs below. Storm Tracking models have TD4 heading west toward the Lesser Antilles but have its course passing north of St Kitts and Nevis around this weekend. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available. Please take this opportunity to go through your hurricane preparedness checklist to make sure you are fully stocked with supplies."

My sources say, "TD #4 is now Tropical Storm Dean and is making its way towards the Caribbean islands. It is expected to become a hurricane and potentially affect portions of the Caribbean islands towards the end of the week..." Like I said earlier, swell.

So now my friends believe me. Only problem is that they're psyched! They're looking forward to the possibility of being in 140 mph winds, not having clean water nor electricity, and 2 weeks of looting. They're also waiting until after finals to go to the grocery store (which was running low on supplies yesterday) to get prepared. I am going to continue to be pessimistic since my life tends to be somewhat more exciting than most. I'm sure it will hit, but I will continue to hope it does not.

As you can see with the image below taken from the NOAA Satellite, the scary set of clouds on the bottom right have moved a full square closer to the Caribbean than they were yesterday. If it goes the same square per day speed it will be in the St. Kitts’ square on Saturday evening. So I assume the weather people just count the squares and that's how they came up with the Saturday estimate too.

And because we needed more fun, there's something fierce going on in the Gulf now too. I know these aren't such precise ways to describe the weather, but I tend to feel that divining for weather is an esoteric art best done by someone who is 1) not me, and 2) owns a satellite.

On the positive side, while not studying for Physio, I took a personality test from Rebecca's Blog. Here are my results (although it seems skewed):

Dynamic Leader

Distracted

I decided the other week that after finals, I was going to create a koi pond in my apartment. (I can see Nora saying ‘Karla!’) So koi grow like huge, and in 2 years I move off the rock, so what to do with 3 fingerling koi when I move and they are big? They are now officially approved to join the other campus koi in the Toxic Plant Garden! So I feel better about getting them now.

Went to IGA and Ram’s (grocery stores) today to stock up on canned goods and water for the impending doom that might hit us over the weekend. IGA has IGA green beans on sale—half off! Too bad they’re laced with botulism! But no big deal, let’s sell them anyway, right? Swell. Yea, glad campus sent us an email on that one otherwise I’d be sick with yet another jungle/tropical/exotic/Caribbean/misc fever (cuz I like green beans).

Today was the Histo final. Don't feel so good about it, but oh well I can live with a B if I have to. Tomorrow is the Nutrition final. Should be fine… but my prof caught me not studying with the Toxic Plant Garden prof. There are a lot of really great profs here with so many interests and such a desire to teach. Combined with the weather, I'm perfectly content... well...

Weather related, a tropical storm off the African coast looks like it's turning into a hurricane. Time to batten down the hatches! This is so just my luck. No one here really thinks it will hit us, BUT they haven't known me long enough- if it's at all possible to go wrong, it will. So I bought more matches, candles, canned food, and 9 more jugs of 5L drinking water. Yea, who will be the over prepared little girl scout? That's right- Me. Let them laugh, I don't care.

Here are picts. It's on the bottom right. Just swell. It does look very hurricane-ish in the loops, so you should go check them out if you're interested. (And in case you weren't sure, because I got this question earlier today, St. Kitts is on the Atlantic side, and not near Hawaii which is in the Pacific and on the other side of the world. Thanks for playing, try again.)

Beach Car

Ok all you 66 dirty minded people that visited my blog yesterday, I need to implement a new rule that if you're from someplace cool (ie not St. Kitts or TX) then you need to say who you are and where you're from.

That said, I saw the cheap car today and it drove well! It's a '91 grayish Nissan Sentra with 130,000mi. I was surprised to find that it indeed had 4 windows and doors! The wheel tax is paid thru Feb 2008. It also has 3 new tires, new joint caps things, new brakes, AND starts on 1st try.

The bad news is the alignment or something is off and wearing on the front tires bad. It will need 2 new front tires soon at $80EC each (installed)... $30US each. Any idea on what to do with the alignment problemo? Power steering might be going out too. Needs new window roller on left side and trunk can't open, BUT you can get to trunk thru back seat.

Car comes fully loaded with sand and that old island car smell. She asked what my max would be, and I told her $750US was my max budget (which is true). I think she said she'd take it and it could be mine free and clear. She said she had about $1000US in repairs in it so far and will go find out how much fixing the alignment will cost. I hate that she would be losing the money she put in the car to fix it, but I also worry it might be a money pit. (Apparently the 7th semester that gave it to her was inclined to excessive drinking, so the car definitely has a lot of character.)

I have not see the other car that is $1500US which I hear is in good shape. There will be no guarantee to get someone to go in on it with me to reduce the cost.

Remember the ONLY reason I was thinking of getting a car was to get to Gong Beach (heavenly music) with Rudder and maybe Salty. The buses and taxis said they wouldn't let a dog in their van, but they do drop you off at the airport of $1EC extra.

Really Dirty Nerve Joke

Straight from the mouth of one of Ross's elderly anatomy professors:

What nerve stimulates the clitoris? Answer.

We were absolutely dumfounded when we heard it uttered. They are such sweet, proper old men, and we cover our mouths if we let a curse word accidentally slip in front of them (but not me cuz I don't swear at school). An upper semester said they have lots of jokes like this and some much worse. They do a good job- we will never forget it now!

And just so you have more "walk around knowledge" the hypogastric nerve is responsible for the male ejaculation, the pelvic nerve is responsible for male erection, and the pudendal nerve is responsible for "it's awareness of it's surroundings." Swell huh? Yea, I didn't need to know that either, but I've been dieing to share it with the world all week.

The Classmate and the Kitty (a true story)

About a month ago, a fellow classmate took pity on an injured stray kitty so she took it home. Problem was that she lived in the dorms, so she gave the kitty to another classmate to watch for her until she moved out of the dorms.

Kitty bolts... thru screen window. Kitty disappears into bushes. We look for kitty. Set traps for kitty. No kitty. Classmate who picked up kitty now overwhelmed with guilt thinking she had ruined the kitty's life by trying to help him. Poor kitty, poor classmate.

3 weeks pass. Classmate sees kitty! It's near the dorms! We move traps from one side of campus to the next. Wala! Trapped kitty! Classmate panicked and excited at the same time. Kitty far from thrilled.

Kitty arrives at my house with my classmate. Kitty is to stay in my room, aka Ft Knox for kitties, until classmate moves out of dorms. Classmate tells me that if he gets out again, she'll have to go into counseling for disrupting kitty's sad little life!

So kitty begun to feel happier since there was food and a litter box around. He's a good kitty and very pretty- white with blue eyes and not deaf (possibly a flame point siamese) about a year or two old. In the duration of these events, classmate also trapped 2 very cute, but wormy kittens! So playful after they realized people = food. These might make better pets than the kitty hiding under my bed with the big big eyes.

Kitty not adjusting quickly and it is decided that maybe he should live outside again. After hiding under my bed for one week, my classmate came to fetch him. Kitty's destination: EXACTLY where classmate found him at Marriott next to pizza stand. Classmate also going to start feeding kitty at the Marriott so he lives happily ever after. THE END

Moral of the story: Don't pick up strays and the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I should tell you the story about The Kittitian and the Kitten. It's about a guy who tossed a kitten in front of a car and motioned for the car to move forward. Fortunately the driver was another classmate.

Let me illustrate:
Animals : Vet Students :: Flies : Shit

An afternoon well spent

Four exams down, all finals left to go. After my exam today I went to a tick seminar. I am happy to announce that I will officially be working with Heartwater in Bont ticks over the break. I will be paid the salary of a TA, however much that is. I’m just so excited to have something to do. I also requested access to U of Florida’s online journal database, which would exceed Ross’s by leaps and bounds. There was also talk that Ross might not get the RT thermocycler. We need a thermocycler for research, so I’ll just have to convince them of it.

I’ve become adept at using the public bus system since I am lacking in vehicular movement. It’s $2EC to town, $2EC back, and so amazingly efficient. They drive like zoom-zoom and there are so many drivers. They can be distinguished from taxis by their green license plates. At night the buses turn on under-van lighting to differentiate between routes. Red goes around the loop of the island while green goes as far as Sandy Point (half way). So far, I’ve been the only… non-local… to get on a bus that I’ve seen, other than one ancient prof who can’t drive anymore.

Despite my love for the buses, they have one fatal flaw: they don’t go to the beaches. I have found a car for sale at $1500US, and I’m tempted. Owner is in 9th semester (off island) and car is worth $3000-4000US easy. BUT $1500 is a lot of money, so I schemed to have a friend buy half of the car for $750. THEN (today) I was talking with a classmate who got a car for free, but had to put in ~$1000 of stuff in it. She doesn’t really like it and now drives an adorable ATV. I offered her $500 for part of it and so I think I’m going to have a set of squares to get myself to Gong Beach. It lacks A/C, radio, one window, half of a door, and a few other major things, but I’m sure I can manage. I intend to get paint and a roller and turn it into a lady bug or put a big Texas flag with goat horns on the hood. Something exceedingly tacky that I would not be able to get away with in the states. I would, of course, have to write a ‘name’ on it too. Here the streets have no names, but all the cars do. Doesn’t matter anyway, bills aren’t mailed and the mail you did get would have to be picked up at the post office anyway, so really, is there a point to naming the streets?

After a long hard battle, my carrots finally decided to give up on life. I found them sleeping behind my dresser. I had wondered where thay had gone, and now I know. That’s ok; I have more seeds to torment, including 4 avocados not sprouting in my kitchen. Still, I have amassed a collection of starfruit, sugarapple, tangerine, orange, passion fruit, guava, mango, avocado, and Texas bluebonnet seeds. They decided that I have a black thumb and need to devote a little more time to them before they will even consider emerging from their catatonic state.

After finals, I plan on setting up a pond in my apartment. I will use the huge cattle lick buckets at school so I don’t have to waste money on a glass tank that was $265EC. I traveled by bus to the “Hardware, Paint, & Pet Supplies” store in downtown Basseterre. The owner is the sweetest guy. He gave me a guava yesterday, and when I came back today with a friend, he gave us each 2 guava and a sugarapple. He has baby koi and lots of fish mixed in with paint and hardware. Quite an interesting store, and the fish actually looked really good. I’ll pick them up in a week or two when I get the tub set up. I’m waiting to get approval to put the koi in the campus ponds when I leave island, or find out if I’d be able to get them off island. I’m not sure how I could since you can’t fly with liquid anymore. I’m excited since I really miss feeding those silly fish. When I left in April, my koi were 10”, 7”, and 6” so I can’t imagine how much bigger they are now. I miss my frog too. He was a whopping 7” and quite formidable even if he is missing an arm and an eye. The pleco was 8” and I hope he’s still getting his beloved weekly zucchini.

So after being thoroughly distracted at the fish store, Jossie and I went to replace the battery in my watch. Then I found out they cleaned chains, so I asked them to clean my Heart of Texas necklace that my old roommate Natalie gave me. It looks so pretty again and everyone comments on it- clean or dirty.

As we left one store to find another that could possibly fix Jossie’s cell, the sky gave way and fell on us in millions of water droplets. We were unable to fix her phone, but we continued shopping at the various stores. I forgot how expensive things cost. Everything here is so cheap, I mean, my entire dinner tonight including tip was $10EC ($3.70US). I’m in awe that most people here are able to live successfully on such limited means. In sharp contrast, a Ross student has the ability to take $71,000/yr in student loans. Of course $40K of that goes to Ross, but that’s still $30K for one person to live on in comparison to the average Kittitian family making $8,200/yr. I also find that many Kittitians are well educated in England or Canada. I'm really impressed by this little island in the Caribbean. Anyway, my money is hard earned, so I’m going to continue to hang on to my meager amount as well as I can.

Semester Calendar

Still working on not studying for my Gross Anatomy Lab Final... I made an optimistic calendar to chart my progression to DVM-hood over the next few years:

And here are finals (made by school so not a complete waste of my time):

Overwhelming? Each final is worth 50% or more of your grade. I think after all this school and have I get my DVM, I'll become a sloth and maybe not get a PhD. That feels really appealing right now. Well back to not studying. Points if anyone can tell me what is a septomarginal traberculae and where you would find it. It's not in my book, but I assume it's somewhere in the heart.

I am going to spend my two week break basking in the sun on the beach. All this studing has made me pasty again. So tired.

PS: I think it's Eric's ~38th birthday today. Happy Birthday Eric!

Figured out what that thing was from earlier. It was written backwards and misspelled in my notes. Good thing it wasn't on the exam! Took lab final of 75 random questions. Feel good about it. Now I need to not study for my Anatomy Lecture Exam... mind feels hazy.

Birthday Wish List

I'm evading studying for my Gross Anatomy Lab Final, which happens to be tomorrow at 1pm. Several people have emailed me to ask what I wanted for my birthday... I'll be a whopping 25, a quarter of a century and basically half my life over with. I really don't need anything other than my dog. (My birthday is Aug 23rd if you can't remember.)
<---Rudder
I think campus is going to give me a new old dog for my birthday... long story I'll tell if it works out. She's a rather temperamental Dobie-mix (Salty), but will kill a local if he breaks in my apartment, so to me, she sounds perfect!

I was thinking and I don't need anything in terms of material objects. I thought I'd put my meager 'wish list' online incase anyone decided to mail me something. I'll add to the list if I can think of anything. It would probably be more types of candy that you can't get on island.

Current Favorite Candy:

• Twizzler’s Sourz
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (in the big bags rather than the 2 cup versions)
• Mr. Goodbar

Miscellaneous:

• McDonald's dipping sauces (Buffalo)
• Equate Acne Treatment Cream from Walmart

Also on the list, but Dad is getting me:

• Lazer Pointer (to use at school, hehehe)
• Foam Matress Pad (since the matress I used in summer camp when I was little was a better grade than the matress I sleep on now)

I’m need to get Josh something for his birthday. Not sure what. Am debating on mailing him a monkey. Anyone have any better ideas? I can send him a necklace made of dog lenses made from our anatomy dogs... I was going to make a pair into earrings for a friend. You think sick, I think cool… but I also had the jar of kittens back home... and we all know I'm a little odd.

In case you forgot, my address is:
c/o Ross University- School of Veterinary Medicine
P.O. Box 334
St. Kitts, West Indies

Different Nerves

I had a conversation earlier with one of my best classmates about nerves. If you didn't know, nerves are my favorite. They are so pretty and delicate and just flow and it makes sense (yet no one else in class seems to get them).

Anyway, I was reading my Miller's textbook and theorized some very interesting things from the dog, applied to people. I'm not going to bore you because, yes, we all know I'm weird. So she said her nerves don't sense that way, that the 2 nerves [in pelvic limb] acted differently and she couldn't tell that two branches off these main nerves dually or cross innervated the various locations we were discussing.

In several studies these nerves (femoral and isciatic nn.) have the possibility of originating from L4-L6 and L6-S1 respectively [in the dog]. Usually the more cranial (femoral) nerve originates in L4 and L5 and not L6 but in some dogs it also originates in L6. We decided that my nerves share a lumbar origin and hers do not. Quite interesting, no? I will have to look this up in people and figure it out for sure...

It appears that in people, the femoral nerve originates at L2-L4 and the sciatic nerve originates in L4-S1... I do believe my theory is correct. Makes so much sense. Wow, the things you learn.

Lub-Swish-Dub-Dub

In a land where avocados are the size of coconuts and jungle fever doesn't only mean lusting over a black man... a semester comes to an end.

So I have been scarce not only because I was studying, busy, was at the beach, the power was out rendering the internet useless, but mainly because I've been sick.

I use the term 'sick' loosely because I might as well have had the plague. Maybe I’m being a little melodramatic, but what do you call a person unable to maintain a body temp above 96F covered in blankets in the Caribbean heat? Let me add to that, a pulse of 140 bpm and a standing blood pressure that was nearly undetectable. I've been on a diet to look better in my bikini, but went from 126-128lbs to 118lbs in 4 days. Icky icky sicky. I arrived here weighing a heafty 135lbs.

This is where my physio notes came in handy: while listening to my heart trying to bound out of my chest, I heard 3 distinct heart beats, like a horse cantering along! I attribute it to my great love of horses, but it’s known as an S3 heart sound. Normally you only hear S1 and S2, which is better known as the characteristic “lub-dub” of a heartbeat. But wait there’s more!

I also heard a swoosh between the lub and the dub, so a “lub-swish-dub.” Murmurs between S1 and S2 are systolic murmurs and generally involve the atrio-ventricular valves (AVV), while murmurs after S1 and S2 are diastolic murmurs and generally involve the semi-lunar valves (SLV). Then you have swish murmurs that are due to insufficient valves and whistling murmurs due to stenotic valves. AVV are between the atria and ventricles while SLV are between the ventricles and pulmonary veins on the right or aorta on the left. (I'll make a murmur chart.)Mine is a problem with the left AVV, called the mitral valve in human medicine, confirmed by an ultrasound (echocardiogram).

So each leaflet of a valve is composed of three layers: the atrialis, fibrosa, and spongiosa. In classic mitral valve prolapse, there is excess connective tissue from dermatan sulfate (a glycosaminoglycan) that thickens the spongiosa which separates collagen bundles in the fibrosa. This thickening weakens the leaflets and adjacent tissue, resulting in increased leaflet area and specifically the elongation of the chordae tendineae (valve strings). Elongated chordae can break causing major problems which I choose not to think about.

So the good news is that I feel much better now and I wasn't anemic or dehydrated or stressed or had and electrolyte imbalance! The cardiologist I went to thought the heart problems I had that lead to us discovering this was the result of a viral infection, which I have now cleared. I was really impressed, she was educated to the states and more knowledgeable than most MD’s I’ve been to. With 2 med schools on island, all bets are off at the local hospital though.

The bad news is this is an inherited defect and when I'm older I'll probably need that valve replaced. Right now there’s really not much that can be done, so don't worry and don't fly down, I'm not in critical condition. I've learned that ~2% of people are diagnosed with is and an estimated 15% might have it, but according to eMedicine on WebMD, MVP is prevalent in 7% of autopsies in the United States.

You can read more and listen here:
http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec07/ch076/ch076d.html

http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic316.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mitral-valve-prolapse/DS00504
http://www.medicinenet.com/mitral_valve_prolapse/article.htm

Happy thoughts everybody! At least my life is interesting.