Dreams and defibrillators

[bunrab]

A couple weekends ago, my ICD fired early in the morning, while I was asleep. You've probably read about dreams, about how they aren't really as organized as we think, and most of what we "remember" of our dreams is constructed by our minds in the couple of seconds as we wake up, to attach some sort of frame we can understand to what was actually far more scattered images. It's not that we don't really dream, it's that our dreams are not the things we remember them being. Anyway, as I woke up from the shock, what my mind interpreted my dream as was: I was just stepping off the curb into a street, when a vehicle came around the corner and hit me. The vehicle was, very specifically, a white, Ford Econoline, 15-passenger carpooling van. I have no idea why it was that specific, but that's what it was.

So, most people say it feels like being kicked by a mule. I say it feels like being hit by a white, Ford Econoline, 15-passenger carpooling van. 

No, I did not go to the emergency room; why should I? The device did what it was supposed to, and I woke up a bit shook up, but otherwise OK. I have an appointment tomorrow for my regular data dump - excuse me, telemetry interrogation of the device - and if they tell me when they see the readout that I should have reacted more urgently, then in the future I will, but I didn't see a reason to panic when everything is doing its job.