MAP OF THE HUMAN HEART

Wizard of Oz:  As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.

Tin Woodsman: But I still want one.

Ezekiel 11 ¹⁹ Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,

Dorothy: Goodbye, Tin man. Oh, don't cry! You'll rust so dreadfully. Here's your oil can.

Tin Woodsman: Now I know I've got a heart, 'cause it's breaking...
 Psalm 34: ¹⁸ The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

If our bodies are consecrated as a “Temple” whereby the Holy Spirit can dwell, then the heart is the “holy of holies”.  Jeremiah: 31:33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

What is that law; or is law another word for love? What is love then? The Lord says that “If you love me, keep my commands, or my law, or be worthy of my love by keeping my law, my commands, my love; a chiasmus. We can only please God by keeping his commands for in them are keys to eternal life. By becoming pleasing we become lovable and worthy to be loved; called a son or daughter of God. Is the heart the key?  

How did love begin, and how does it grow, if we shield ourselves from hurt and pain? How do we know when to cry or when to hug? Were we taught these things previously?  The Lord says that he will “Plant a seed in our hearts…..

I found this really enlightening You-Tube sponsored by Soul Pancake. It is an interview with a female heart surgeon, Dr Kathy E. Magilato ,MD explaining to an interviewer why she chose to become a “heart surgeon”. Note this that successful female heart surgeons are a rare breed. 

A previous occupation for me was Surgical Assistant or scrub nurse. I think that in the time period that I worked in this field, twenty years, I probably assisted on no less than one thousand cases and only one was an open heart procedure. I remember “applying” for a coveted position on the heart team in a hospital where I worked. I spent hours studying and then more time observing and then “circulating” cases where I would learn and assist in preparing the supplies and instruments for the case. This was as hard as assisting because, you had to know everything, from the surgeons glove size, loop style (special glasses), surgical routine, code words, the anatomy of the heart and the procedure from the beginning to the end. It was like a well choreographed dance and silence and reverence was a must.

I finally had an opportunity to assist on the “second” table, which is the “graft” table. The assistant at this table was responsible for preparing a harvested “femoral vein “graft from the patient’s leg to be used as a part of the “bypass” in the heart procedure. It was not as intense as working on the heart table, but the vein had to be “patent”, meaning blood had to flow freely from it. (This vein isn't some small spindly thing, it is substantial and the perfect piece of anatomy to assist in transferring blood from the heart to the rest of the body, in fact, it was created for this job). To make this happen we handled it gently and injected heparin ( a solution used to thin blood) through it and placed it in a solution of heparin. The proximal and distal (top & bottom) ends would be identified and a stitch would be put in to identify it. It would be at least 30 minutes before the vein graft was to be used. In the mean time all of the excitement was at the top of the table. The heart in all of its glory was preparing for its close up. In order to prepare the body for the exposure of the heart, the patient is put into a deep phase of anesthesia, almost death, where a machine is breathing for them.

As the anesthetist is administering the medicine, he is talking to the patient, (who is asleep) and giving reassurance. After that, the surgical team opens the chest and begins to put in an icy saline (salt water) solution called slush. This brings the body temperature way down and causes the heart to slow its beat. But while this is happening one lucky team member gets to hold the heart in their hands to help stabilize it while the heart surgeon is preparing to place it on the bypass machine.Some team members have described this holding of the heart similar to wrestling, because the heart will beat and not be hindered. It’s awesome but also the most dangerous time of the surgery. As some surgeons like to say, we are in God’s country at this time and it’s true. 

So I digress, but in all of this I have often wondered if this was God’s plan for us, his own creation to have the ability touch the heart and “fix” it. We have an awesome God and we are awesomely made too.. 

Courtesty of Soul Pancake