Two stents and you may be out

 

                 Two Stents and You May be Out

 Two days ago, the "unexpected" has become the expected. Bernie Sanders, a contestant for the presidential run for the year 2020, has succumbed to the unexpected, a heart attack, necessitating the implantation of two stents. Such a procedure is not uncommon for those of us who suffered a heart attack, not too serious enough perhaps, to take one out of running for anything or staying wherever we were.
Bernie Sanders had undergone "two stents" implants, which necessitated hospitalization for a couple of days, but for all practical purposes, this event may impact, if not take him out of the presidential run. Unfortunately, although survivability may be assured, this event is likely to cast a shadow on the contender's ability to perform his presidential duties, perhaps more so, the stress for running the campaign for the presidency.
Speaking from experience: four months ago, I had undergone a similar procedure--"two stents" implants following an unanticipated heart attack.Although I am not a candidate for the highest office in the land, I am an academic, "emeritus" professor of economics at Clark University, still quite active in research and publication in my field of study, I would not contemplate running for anything, the presidency notwithstanding.What is relevant here perhaps, is that in my case, the heart attack was triggered by the intense effort I have exerted in going over a "manuscript" in order to meet the publication deadline.
As an academic, I have faced a great deal of stress in meeting deadlines-- at Clark University, I have chaired 53 doctoral theses in economics with deadlines that had to be met for the success of my candidates for the PhD. The stress is what makes our footprints, whether that may be associated with being an academic, or in      asking one's constituents help in seeking the highest office in the land-- the presidency of the United States.
Unlike the senator, I am  a "Two timer".  My first"two stents" happened during my reading of doctoral theses several years ago. That did not give me  a card blanch-- few years later, this year I had a second round--two more stents.
With my second time around, I face a survival problem-- too many medications, less activity, but most of all , at least to my thinking then WHAT, and for HOW LONG the stents will survive.
A saying I have read somewhere, may be in a song: it is better the second time arround-- take my words, DO NOT BELIEVE IT.
My first time, with the stent implants , I did not even "Blink"; I neither knew what a stent was , nor what does it do, and most certainly I did not know that stents DO FAIL.  
Loosing one's ability to function,even for a day necessitated by the recovery process from stents implantation, for me personally, is worth a great deal more than a day or even 30 days worth of subsequent living. I do not know how others who have faced the same surgery have felt, but my experience would defy the "proverb" or "song", about the wonders of the second times around, at least as stent implantation goes-- it could not be more False.  
Mr Sanders is a"hardy" Senator from Vermont. For him  this is a  "first event". No doubt, he shall regain complete functionality in a very short time. He has a message that needs to be heard, not just  during the presidetial run, but for all time to come:
Believe in yourself and in your country's future-- that by getting together and acting our own conscious, we shall always achieve and maintain greatness.
Senator Sanders, I wish you well. Be assured that you shall recover, and, that you shall continue to serve your country and your constituents. 
I wish you a speedy recovery, and if the presidency is in your future, I wish you great luck and good health.