My father is back in the hospital. As some may recall, nearly 14 months ago, he had a heart attack of such severity and with such serious consequences that he should have died. Amazingly (and in my opinion, thanks to God), he survived. Well, on Sunday he fainted and was taken to the ER. It was a mild thing and he thought little of it, but he listened to the pleadings of my mother and went, where they ended up holding him “overnight”. At first, it appeared that he was simply dehydrated, but his EKG showed premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). His cardiac rhythms have been abnormal since his heart attack (as they usually are), but this was a new development. His cardiologist decided to go ahead and order an echocardiogram, which resulted in an ejection fraction (EF) of 35%. His previous EF was 55%, which is the low end of normal. Further investigation has revealed coronary arterial calcification, which means more blockage of the blood vessels that feed the heart. So the plan is to ship him to Tucson once again (where he spent the bulk of his treatment and recovery last year) where his arteries are going to get a Roto-Rooter. This is very treatable, much more so than his episode last year, but nevertheless, it is concerning.