I need a pacemaker-help

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joanne6

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 13, 2005
Messages
441
Location
Baltimore, MD
I am back asking for more support and I know I am in the right place. I saw the electrophysiologist today. I have had a Medtronic Loop Recorder for almost 15 months. I didn't want it put in. I almost was able to say that I was right and I didn't need it but.... I had posted a couple of weeks ago that I had a syncopal episode and was hospitalized. Unfortunately the docs at the hospital where I was taken did not retrieve the data from the loop recorder. The just chalked it off to orthostatic blood pressure changes or "vasovagal syncope".
Turns out I had a 20 second pause in heart activity which caused me to pass out. I am scheduled for a pacemaker implant on Friday.
I know some of you have them and wanted to know what to expect. I mostly need hugs from some of you. I thought I had fixed the ticker when I had the mitral valve repair. Now this happens.
Thanks.
 
This is one thing I hate about our hearts being played with, other things come along out of the blue. I don't know about Pace makers, but I'll give you the hugs.
 
Hi, sorry you are having to go through all of this, but glad that somebody finally looked at your loop recorder! Shame on them for not doing so earlier.

I have a pacemaker, inserted because the medication given to me for a-fib slowed down my heart so much that it was becoming dangerous.

The operation itself is really very minor. Although the anesthesia is called Conscious Sedation you are not really conscious, you just are at a level where you don't need help/support breathing. They form a little pocket (and it is little) around your breast bone somewhere to insert the pacemaker and then they guide the pacemaker wires down to the heart through a vein where they will stay in order to give the impulses if needed.

I had little to no discomfort. You just have to be careful about lifting your arms for a couple of weeks afterward so you give the wires a chance to adhere to the heart tissue.

I have mine checked on a regularly scheduled basis over the phone with a company that offers that service...set up by the doctor and the insurance covers it. And the doctor also checks it about every three months anyway.

Hope this answers some of your concerns. Feel free to ask more if not!

Good luck.
 
Joanne,

Good luck on Friday! Thoughts/prayers coming your way....



Cort:33swm."Mr Monte Carlo.Mr Road Trip".pig valve.pacemaker
PICS:lego.HO.model.MCinfo.RT.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"It's time to take a leap of faith" ... Steven Curtis Chapman ... 'Dive'
 
I'm on my 4th pacemaker and will be getting a 5th some time this year (each has lasted from 5-6 years because I'm 100% dependant. Got my first one when I was 7 years old.) It's a piece of cake compared to everything else I've ever had done. Of course, mine is in my abdomen, so the shoulder thing was not an issue for those, but I was sore for a little while. If it makes you feel any better, my last pacer was placed on a Thursday and I was back at work on Monday. So not bad at all, from my perspective. Granted, no one wants any kind of surgery if they can help it, but at least it's not open heart! You've survived that, so you can certainly survive this! :D

Good luck. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
 
Joanne
I am sorry to hear that you need one more step in this process.. Honestly.. you will probably feel much much better after getting the pacemaker:)

I don't have a pacemaker, but rather a defibrillator, it is a bit bigger and on the other side of the chest.. but the proceedure for implanting is similar.

You will have some nice versed.. and probably spend the night.. and go home the next day.. a little sore, but in comparison..it will be a minor inconvience..
I know I went for a walk the day I came home.

Are you going back to University?

sending you some hugs too..{{{{{joanne}}}}}
 
Dear Joanne:

Oh gosh....I know that is probably NOT what you wanted to hear. My husband is in the same situation......needing a pacemaker, although his electrical activity is different. He also has pauses, many a day, but no where near as long as yours. He also has a-fib.

It does sound like the surgery is not overly painful, nor does it "hold you up" for very long.

From what electrophysiologists have told us, having heart surgery alone, can cause a persons nodes (from scar tissue, remodling or whatever) to misfire, and result in pacemaker implantation. Sometimes it happens long after the initial OHS.

As one cardiologist told us "There are no guarantees in this business."

I wish you the very best outcome.

Marybeth
 
Just wanted to wish you well. I don't have any experience with them, personally, but it certainly sounds like something you should take care of!!!! There are many, many people here who have them, I think. It is just not that uncommon. Still I understand that you are feeling abit let down and I'm sorry that you have to endure yet another new event. I'm glad it won't keep you down for long.

Two pacemakers this week....Lynn is probably at the hospital right now, getting hers.

Keeping you in my thoughts.

Marguerite
 
When I found out I needed a pacer, I was really depressed. I was blaming the surgeon for having a twitch while he was replacing my valves.
I have since found out that the pacer is really an amazing machine! I have total heart block as a result of the double valve replacement. Whenever I go into the clinic for an interrogation, I have them turn off the pacer to see if my heart will pickup on its own. So far, it hasn't
I found out that one of the methods to address a-fib is a type of ablation that puts the patient in heart block intentionally. This means that those people are committed to a pacer forever.
During my heart surgery I had the MAZE procedure performed to address chronic a-fib. The last time I visited the clinic, they told me that I had several episodes of a-fib the previous year in November and then one episode for ten seconds in April. No a-fib since! Woohoo! I never felt the a-fib anyway.
Mine is mounted in my shoulder and if yours will be you will have some lifting restrictions for 3-4 weeks, including not lifting your left arm above your shoulder. Try getting a glass from the cupboard or putting on a tee shirt w/o lifting your arm above your shoulder!!
The worst problem that I have with it is that my scar itches.:D
 
Thank you all so much for the information and support. I will be admitted at 8am and go straight to the lab for the procedure. I am nervous but looking forward to having the reassurance that my heart won't take a nap again.
Marky-yes I am going back to University of Maryland. I feel very comfortable there.
If all goes well, and I am sure it will, I will be home some time Sat. afternoon. I will write and let you all know how it goes. The docs can't relate this to the OHS but I can. I never had a problem until the surgery. But thankfully, I have a repaired mitral valve and will soon have a device to control the heart's temper tantrums.
Take care, Hugs back to all of you.
 
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