missing words

This image is from a pre-war algebra book which once belonged to my Dad.  The page is open at a discussion of ‘errors’ and ‘degrees of accuracy'.  There’s a lot of it I don’t understand, but I do know that the  symbol < means ‘less than’.    It crops up a few times on this page as does the word ‘error’.

<       Such an innocuous looking mark on the page but one loaded with enormous significance.

I received a letter a few days ago from the hospital; it was a copy of one sent by my cardiologist to the electro-physiologist who I saw yesterday.  The purpose of the letter was to provide the EP with the results of a recent heart scan so that he could advise on suitable treatment for my heart arrhythmias.

As I read the letter, my eye was drawn to the following; ‘CT angiogram showing 50% lesion in the proximal LAD’.  This meant nothing to me so I resorted to google.  And wished I hadn’t.  

LAD means ‘left artery descending.’  It’s referred to in medical parlance, particularly when there are nasty things in it, as ‘the widow-maker’. 

So an anxious time for Anniemay and me.  Big questions to face.  Is this it?  Is it worth investing in another set of Le Crueset cookware?  Or getting the boxed set of Breaking Bad?  And what about War and Peace? - I’ve not even started it yet …..

But ….. errors and degrees of accuracy ….

I now have a copy of the actual results of the heart scan; the troublesome sentence reads ‘a lesion of less than 50% in the proximal LAD’ and an additional phrase ….’not thought to be obstructive’.

Two missing words.  Two rather small four-letter words.  (Not to be confused with the ones I uttered).  But so powerful - their insertion changes everything.

I decide against the Le Crueset on the grounds that our current set has lasted well over 30 years and even without a thing in my LAD I’m unlikely to get my money’s worth out of any  replacement.  And I will make a start on War and Peace.

ps; thanks for the comments, stars and hearts yesterday.  Meant even more than usual.