Each day of our lives there is a soft rhythmic sound that we carry with us. We go about our daily lives never hearing it perform its vital job. Perhaps the only time we hear the sound is when you are scared, and alone in a cemetery at night or the first time you got to first base, you knew your heart felt love or you felt something.

Why am I telling you about the sounds of your heart? Maybe because someone who was much younger than me has passed away reportedly from a heart attack. Lisa Marie Presley’s heart stopped and her life ended. I donát know if she had problems before or the event was a onetime thing and was fatal.

I would think that she had the best of medical care and doctors who took no chances advising her as to proper heart care. Especially after her father, Elvis, died of a heart attack at the age of 42. A young man with a lot of life ahead of him. Did he have a history factor that led to his premature death or did his life style contribute to his end. I would believe both played a part in his life.

Lisa was only 54, by my estimates, that is the prime of life and yet she was even older than her father. Did his family legacy or her life style contribute to her untimely death? For now we only know her heart has stopped.

Each day your heart beats approximately 72 times a minute and 100,000 a day. Over your life time that is 2.5 billion times. It goes about its work without us noticing. Well, that is until you experience what seems to be a flutter of your heart and love is not in the air. Or a racing heart beat when the lottery ticket in your pocket is not a winner. Or you experience tiredness and you know it is not because you have over worked your body. These are silent warning signs that each of us will or may experience.

In all likely hood the heart is one of the most treated organs in our bodies. Medicine and science have studied the heart and know as much about it as any part of our body. Pills can regulate it, pace makers can adjust its rate of beating and even detect a problem and give you a good shock to adjust the rhythm.

Today you can wear a watch that will keep an eye on your heart beat and alert you to a problem. In your pocket you can carry a device, that when you place two fingers onto the pads, it will send an electrocardiogram to your phone. Today, technology can do wonderous things to preserve our heart healthy lives.

If you are wondering how is your heart, maybe you should ask your doctor for a stress test or some blood work to see if the good stuff is correct and the bad stuff is in check. A heart scan can detect sticky stuff in your arteries that may be missed by other tests. Lp(a) is a risk factor for developing heart problems. The thing is, there are a great many tests and devices out there today that can make a difference.

But unless you know your risk factor, all the great medical innovations over the last fifty years is for not. You have to be your own best doctor and patient. After all, it seems anymore when you go to the doctor they ask you what you think is going on and tell you to take another pill.

I foresee a day in the not to distance future where you drive up to a kiosk at a hospital. Stick your hand into a scanner. One minute later an electronic voice will say, “Take two pills and text me in the morning.” From a nearby dispenser a bottle of pills appear.

Back in the day when I use to visit Doctor Coffield, he used the same way to discover my problems. First he would ask a few questions, scratch his chin and look over my chart while saying under his breath, “Hummm… I see.” Then he would listen to my heart and use two fingers to thump on my back, and then again say,“Hummm.” Before saying, “well, I think your heart is the problem.” I was sure he knew the answer before I did. That’s a good doctor.

Remember last December when my Mary was rushed to Wheeling Hospital for a ruptured hernia. She was rushed into surgery and five hours later she was good as new. The day she was to get out of the hospital the nurse was having a pleasant conversation with her as she checked her vitals. Suddenly the nurse became serious as she was listing to Maryás heart. She asked if she had ever experienced any problems with her heart. To which she replied, “No.” Long story short, over the next day they tested her and she had a heart arrhythmia, her heart rate was elevated to 180. Did she feel it or sense it, no. It truly could have been a silent killer in her case.

A pace maker was discussed if medication could not control her heart. Fortunately medication has help to control the racing of her heart …that is except when she sees my wonderful face.

Each of us tend to put things off we sometimes sense with our bodies. We both know that there are times when somehow we don’t feel just right. Maybe it was that baloney sandwich at 1:30 last night or maybe your heart is telling you I donát feel good.

With the New Year upon us and resolutions promised and broken, maybe you should promise yourself this year I am going to have my heart health checked. The tests for the most part are not painful and the results can be quick. The result can give you a life time to enjoy family and friends.

I have a quick demonstration for you to take. Hold a penny between two fingers. Next, hold them twelve inches off a table top. Now… drop it. How long did it take to land on the table? Too fast to estimate? How long does it take for a blood clot to block a main artery, about the same time for a widow maker? Don’t let that penny drop on you this year, go see your doctor and have your heart health tested. That way you can enjoy your family in 2023. And in those quiet moments read my stories. Who knows, maybe the paper will let me write a racy Valentine love story and send your heart into a flutter, as we look Through the Lens.