Lifelong Heart Condition (Not)

To my surprise, someone told me today that I had had a lifelong "heart condition". In fact, doctors ordered bed-rest in 1975 (I was fifteen), and again in 1978 (eighteen), to protect my heart when I had episodes of rheumatic fever. Shortly after the second bed-rest, they found a heart murmur, which is typical of rheumatic fever. But see this doctor's letter, of 1985. By 1985, a murmur was no longer detectable. OBSERVATION: It was not, therefore, a lifelong heart condition. I remember the bed-rest in particular, which was long weeks each time. I did a lot of reading then. I read classical works, among other things.