This informative post will be posted on Saturday along with my usual writing. We can all appreciate some of the lesser known facts from around the world.
One of the first models for the artificial heart was invented in the early 1950s at the Yale University School of Medicine, using the parts and motor from a standard Erector Set.
David Rice Atchison was President of the United States for one day, March 4, 1849. James Polk’s term ended that morning, but President-elect Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn in on a Sunday. In the interim, the job automatically went to Atchison, the Senate president pro tem.
These facts have been discovered in I NEVER KNEW THAT by David Hoffman (2009).
Big Sky Buckeye 
My grandmother underwent openheart surgery in Indianapolis being chosen to recieve a pigs valve to replace her damaged heart valve from Scarlett fever. Surgery was successful. Lasted around 15 years and got a second one. Amazing technology. She got to watch her grandchildren grow up and meet her great grandchildren!
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Debbie, this sounds a lot like my maternal grandmother. She had Rheumatic Fever as a child and needed heart valve replacement two different times.
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Wow, that is amazing. extremely glad your grandmother had the same wonderful lifesaving opportunities.
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Who knew what I could have built with my erector set!
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With a timely patent, you would probably be a multi-millionaire. But then, your students wouldn’t have the dynamic accounting lessons from Professor Borden.
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I would have been happier with the millions living on a beach somewhere, and so would my students 🙂
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Better be a Florida beach instead of one along Lake Michigan. I have only seen the Atlantic and Pacific once apiece . . . Oregon and Ocean City, Maryland.
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I wouldn’t mind seeing Lake Michigan in the summer…
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what fascinating facts … my mother had a triple bypass, then a pacemaker … the failing pig valve killed her in the end!
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My maternal grandmother had two heart valve replacements done. The first one was touch and go as her condition was quite serious. She had Rheumatic Fever as a child.
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oh that is a tough one, glad she made it!
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Our family was blessed because she remained with us for over 15 years. She will always be my Mom’s best friend.
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oh isn’t that sweet! Doesn’t happen often 🙂
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Fascinating about the heart
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Very much so! In the mid-1960s, my maternal grandmother was blessed with lifesaving heart valve replacement surgery (when it was on the cutting edge of medical science).
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Wow she was one of the early ones!!
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Yes, she went to Rochester, MN to consult with doctors at the Mayo Clinic.
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Gotcha
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These are the facts that aren’t so trivial to me! I love them!
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Thanks Karla. More will be coming.
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You’re welcome! That’s wonderful!
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