ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS

30. ANJALI'S HEART ATTACK

❤︎ Anjali ❤︎

My father takes us to JFK Airport early in the morning, and we check-in for the flight to San Francisco. Dr. Waxman falls asleep right after the airplane takes off. I am trying to sleep, but an overwhelming feeling of excitement takes over me. This is my very first working trip. I am so content that someone needs my professional help, and I am crossing the entire continent. All of a sudden, I feel as if I have grown up.

Our airplane finally lands at San Francisco International Airport. The doctor rents a car at the airport and drives along the San Francisco Bay toward San Jose. Heart Foundation is located less than two hours south of San Francisco. The weather is so fantastic, and it makes me forget that it is still winter in NYC. Once we park the car across from the institute, we walk into a very stylish building.

The director's office has a beautiful floor-to-ceiling view of an impressive Japanese garden. It is so well-manicured, and I can see the great hand of a gardener. In the distance, two gardeners are working on the garden. It is a perfect day for gardening.

The doctor and the director shake hands, then Dr. Waxman introduces me as her assistant at Colombia University. In the beginning, they introduce themselves and talk about some daily topics. Then the director starts to explain the functions of the foundation.

"I am so glad that you came to see us all the way from New York City. First, I would like to explain our objectives at the foundation, and we will go over each category in depth. There are mainly two categories of research that would interest you."

"One is called the 'science of the heart.' It is the findings on the science of heart-brain communication. I will explain to you this topic today. Then tomorrow, I will introduce you to the extensive research and findings on heart intelligence and coherence."

"All the findings are unique on their own, and the beautiful thing is that they are all interrelated. First of all, the human heart is much more than an efficient pump as the medical field has traditionally viewed it."

"The heart is a highly complex information-processing center with its own functional brain, commonly called the heart-brain. It communicates with and influences the cranial brain via the nervous system, hormonal system, and other pathways."

As my brain gets tired of all the information, my mind starts to drift off to the beautiful Japanese garden. I am curious about the gardeners.

One gardener is an older gentleman—Asian like me, but he is probably from the Far East such as Korea or Japan—and he is on top of the ladder cutting the branches of a pine tree. He is sculpting a branch into a perfect oval shape with his scissors.

The other tall gardener is holding the ladder to make sure that it is stable. Probably he is the assistant to the older gardener. He is wearing a white wife-beater tank-top, and his strong shoulder is exposed to the sun.

He slowly turns his face toward me. When my eyes catch the face of the young white man, my heart starts to pound heavily. I don't know what happened to my heart. I have to place my hand on my chest as if my heart will come out of my chest.

Dr. Waxman and the director see the change in my posture, and the doctor asks me if I am OK.

"What happened, Anjali? Are you OK?"

"Oh my God! You are holding your heart. What happened to your heart? Are you having a heart attack?"

"Lie down on the couch right away, Anjali!"

She grabs my shoulder and brings me to the couch. She is checking my pulse and my eyes to see if my pupils might be dilating.

"I hope the trip to San Francisco didn't stress your heart too much. But you don't have any symptoms of a heart attack, though your heart is still beating very fast."

The doctor is very puzzled about the reaction of my heart while she is worried about me. The director is calling his secretary to come into the office. Once my heart calms down, the doctor asks me again.

"Anjali, are you OK now? Can you tell me what happened?"

"It isn't that your cardiovascular system is failing. It is something psychological, isn't it?"

 I slowly sit up on the couch.

"Well, I don't know what really happened. I was looking at the garden and saw two gardeners working there. One is an older Asian man on the ladder, and the other is a white man holding the ladder."

"When I looked at his face, my heart started to pound so hard that I didn't know what hit me. I didn't understand what was happening to me."

Both of them turn around and look at the garden where the two gardeners are working—the doctor remarks with a smile.

"Ah-ha, he is a quite good-looking fella, and he also has a very nice body! It is none of my business, but I didn't know you like blonds."

"Well, I guess this is a teenager's infatuation. Thank God it wasn't anything serious!"

"Anjali, you scared me."

Then both of them smile as if they want to tell me.

"That's your hormones talking!"

When I look at him a second time, my heart starts to beat fast again. So the rest of the meeting, I avoid looking at him because I don't want to embarrass myself again with my foolish reaction.

Then the director went back to where he left off.

"We have conducted several research studies that have explored topics such as the electrophysiology of intuition and the heart's magnetic field, which radiates outside the body. It carries information that affects other people and even our pets."

"Traditionally speaking, the study of communication pathways between the head and the heart has been approached from a one-sided perspective. The scientists are primarily focusing on the heart's responses to the brain's commands."

"On the contrary, we have discovered that the communication between the heart and the brain actually is a dynamic, ongoing, two-way dialogue with each organ continuously influencing the other's function."

"The heart communicates with the brain in four major ways: neurologically through the transmission of nerve impulses, biochemically via hormones and neurotransmitters, biophysically through pressure and pulse waves, and energetically through electromagnetic field interactions."

"We are finding out that the heart has its own type of logic and acts independently of the signals sent from the brain. We also discovered that the heart has a complex neural network that is extensive enough to be characterized as a brain in the heart, the heart-brain."

"The heart-brain's neural circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain to learn, remember, make decisions, and even feel and sense. In fact, the heart sends more information to the brain than the brain sends to the heart."

"The heart-brain has both short-term and long-term memory functions and can operate independently of central neuronal command. It also became apparent that the heart's intrinsic nervous system plays an important role in the routine control of cardiac function, independent of the central nervous system."

"Discoveries show that the heart actually manufactures and secretes many hormones and neurotransmitters. It plays an important role in fluid and electrolyte balance. It helps regulate the function of blood vessels, adrenal glands, and kidneys. It also produces atrial peptide, which is generally called the balance hormone."

"Increased atrial peptide levels will inhibit the release of stress hormones and interact with the immune system. It also manufactures and secretes oxytocin, commonly referred to as the 'love' or 'social bonding' hormone. It generally involved in cognition, tolerance, trust, and friendship."

This is how we ended our first meeting with the director. By the time our first meeting is over, the gardeners are gone. I am reluctant to see the empty garden. It was such a strange experience as if my heart recognized the face of the gardener.

I didn't pay too much attention to what happened until much later because I was embarrassed by what the doctor thought about me.