I’ve just re-connected to the news after some wonderful days on the Rogue River, complete with osprey and river otter sightings, too much food, lots of cold water splashing and some improvement in my river reading skills.

This isn’t the first news I saw but the first that hit me with jolt.  Dick Cheney, infamous for his war hawking and famous for his obscure pronouncements about known knowns, unknown knowns, known unknowns and unknown unknowns looks like he’s facing the biggest of the last.

Cheney issued an upbeat press announcement after a pump was implanted to help his heart.  Word is that the future is not so bright.  From TPM.

“I’m a surgeon and just read your wire story about Dick Cheney getting a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) placed. The story downplays the seriousness of that procedures…once you’ve got an LVAD in place, it means your heart is essentially incapable of working on its own and has no potential to improve. While LVAD outcomes have been improving, and some patients live months or even years with one of these devices in place, this is a HUGE operation with MAJOR associated morbidity and mortality. If he’s not listed for a heart transplant, his days are seriously numbered. Life on an LVAD isn’t something I’d wish on my worst enemy…an axiom that this situation really tests. He’s in for a rough time.”