New Wine in Old Blood Vessels
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins, and the wine will pour out, and the wineskins will be lost. Instead, new wine must be put into new wineskins.” — Mark 2:22
excerpt from the Gospel of Mark for Monday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time, Year II, Monday, October 15, 2018
Except when you get a VAD. Then you get new wine into old, brittle wineskins. Not sure if anybody thought about that…
I can’t hear (read) this Gospel anymore without thinking of Dad, my dad, Norb Kwiecinski. He got a new lease on life in February 2014. A VAD, specifically, an LVAD, a Left Ventricular Assist Device because his left ventricle was failing. It couldn’t sufficiently empty blood from his heart any longer. And he was dying.
Lack of blood supply means lack of oxygen. Lack of oxygen means dying a slow death.
The LVAD gave him new life. It pumped blood through his body for him. But that lack of blood flow for so many years meant veins that had turned into old wineskins. And Dad’s new wine, in the form of a vibrant, fresh blood supply, was too much for the old wineskins to handle.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the wineskins…
After being discharged from his four-month journey through intensive care, five stare downs with death, and an incredibly intense physical rehabilitation, Dad became a frequent visitor at the hospital.
Why? He constantly needed more blood. Where was it going?
Despite numerous tests, there was little evidence of a single source of a leak. It wasn’t showing up. So why did he need blood? Where was it going? Was his body like an old automobile engine, burning oil?
My humble, yet considered theory is that his arteries and veins — and especially the fine, delicate capillaries that deliver blood to the extremities and up to the skin — had become brittle from years of poor blood flow. When the LVAD powerfully and efficiently delivered blood, this force was more than these delicate tissues could handle. And the blood was absorbed into the body. It had seemingly disappeared. But it really hadn’t.
Is that really what happened? Is this really the explanation for why Dad consistently needed blood transfusions?
Nobody can convince me otherwise. No one else had a better, more plausible, more scientific explanation. And my theory seems to make sense.
A flood of memories
Anyway… today’s Gospel triggered these memories today. Always happens. And the memories of those troubling, yet exhilarating and joyful months come flooding back into consciousness as if they happened yesterday.
I love you, Dad. Still miss you like crazy. Still blame you for my coffee addiction (thanks to my chronic lack of sleep through most of 2014). Still ask you for help with the simplest home repair projects. And I still hear you say, chidingly, “atta boy” when I finally figure it out.
And we have the most serious man-to-man philosophical discussions… well, sure, they’re slightly one-sided. But they’re real. And really serious.
Monday, October 15, 2018
