My 12 yo just got a pm- help!

My superactive soccer-obsessed 12 yo daughter just got an epicardial pacemaker this week. The surgeon did a pretty good job with a subxiphoid placement and we'd love for her to keep playing. It is the only thing she is passionate about and she is pretty good- we would just really hate to say she can't play- it would devastate her. Any thoughts- any experience? She is NOT pacemaker dependent although we realize if it broke they'd have to go in again. So- she doesn't play OR she wears a protector of some kind OR she just goes out and we take our chances. To answer this you really have to know the game a bit to understand the risk of a direct hit in the PM. She could get hit by the ball (round object), elbowed in exactly the right (wrong) spot, or fall flat on her face. The former is quite possible although doesn't happen that often, the middle is pretty unlikely. The last is most common I guess. A casual survey of the web reveals a range of recommendations from Yes to No to maybe. My feeling (though I want believe this) is that we go for it.
Does anyone have any thoughts/experience/suggestions?

11 Comments

Talk with the Dr more.

by tcrabtree85 - 2009-08-15 01:08:05

I suggest you sit down and talk to your daughters EP more about this. It will take a while for the leads to get in place. I also know that others on here play sports and are also even close to your daughters age.
I personally believe that the more active you keep your daughter the better off health wise she would be in the long run. Protector guards have been talked about in the past. Maybe check the search in the top corner and see if past conversations are brought up where you can buy them.
I wish your daughter luck on her road to recovery and also that all of your questions will be answered. Hopefully some other wise people on this website can help you out. You came to a great site. Welcome!

Blessings,
Tammy

Guards

by chip - 2009-08-15 03:08:43

The medical aspect is of course a question for your doctor but pacemaker guards are avaliable for protection during sports.

You might check these out:

http://paceguard.com/AboutUs.html

By the way there are may professional players who sport ICDs and/or pacemakers!

Thanks for quick and helpful replies

by robinfriday - 2009-08-15 07:08:01

We are still reeling from even having to consider this, the pm coming out of the blue following a couple of fainting spells over the last 2 weeks followed by a completely abnormal EKG and pm 5 days later. Plugging into communities like this will help us feel our way. We are meeting with the EP Monday and will indeed follow up- thanks Tammy for your good wishes. Chip, I have begun to check out guards but paceguard seems for traditional pm and our daughter has an epicardial so she needs a particular kind of chest protection. Also I would love to be able to show her pro athletes with pms or ICDs but have not been able to find any- if I search I just get old retired players who got age-appropriate pacing. Any names of current players would be really helpful. Thanks again to you both.

athletes

by Tracey_E - 2009-08-15 07:08:06

I can't think of the name, but I think there was a swimmer in the last Olympics with a pm.

Here's all I found with a quick google search
http://www.bostonscientific.com/templatedata/imports/HTML/lifebeatonline/summer2004/patients.shtml

go for it

by Tracey_E - 2009-08-15 07:08:36

Once she heals, soccer should not be a problem. Ask the doctor before she starts again, but many pm recipients enjoy all sorts of sports. Tackle football, rugby, wrestling are generally frowned upon, anything else is usually fine.

It's up to you if you want her in the guard or not. Paceguard that Chip mentioned was started by one of our members. I was a 12 yr old with a heart condition once upon a time, and I have a 12 yr old daughter now. Unless she wants it, I would probably skip the guard so she doesn't feel different because 12 is a tough age just dealing with middle school and hormones, but that's just my personal opinion. It's not likely that even a direct hit would do any damage, it would just hurt.

Welcome! Please don't be shy if you have more questions. We have quite a few parents of kids with pm's as well as teens with them.

PaceGuard

by zoie - 2009-08-17 01:08:44

Hi Robin,
My name is Sharon and I am the co-founder of PaceGuard. In regards to fitting your daughters particular pm, we designed the guard to fit over the largest pm on the market as well as an icd. Just recently, a mom from here has a 6 year old son whose pm is his abdomin. I was able to make a custom shirt to accomodate his pm. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at spinnler@paceguard.com I definitley understand your concern for your daughter...that's how PaceGuard came to be..for my daughter Zoie.
Ply for Life!
Sharon

Definitely talk to the doc

by COBradyBunch - 2009-08-17 11:08:05

While I, and a lot of other folks here can related. From everything that I have been told while I have been told to avoid direct blows to my unit my doc said that anything short of that is okay, and that if I wanted to play a sport where the chance of a direct blow was high that some sort of padding or shield could be worn over the unit to protect it. I guess it is all about placement and protection. BTW, if you don't get the answer you want from the first doc please a) continue to ask and push to see what options are available and b) get a second opinion from a doc who deals with young, active, healthy people and not just the over 60+ group. I had to fight about placement and activity levels so I didn't have to give up my lifestyle

She plays!!!!

by Hot Heart - 2009-08-19 04:08:02

I have a gorgeous daughter who had medical problems, I had to make a decision do I let her live her life or wrap her up in cotton wool!!!! She lives her life, she's now 29!!

HH

soccer...

by robinfriday - 2009-09-24 01:09:39

melissa- thanks. My daughter just went back to playing this week- and is so happy about it. She too is pretty aggressive and so we are watching closely- she's a small 12 year old and playing U13 where some of the girls are bigger than me! Did she get an epicardial or transvenous pm? We have an epi, and just got a paceguard for it. She is finding it difficult to adapt to though. Did the docs tell you why she suddenly needed a pacemaker? They did tons of tests on our daughter- who has always been very healthy- and could not come up with a cause of the heart block.

Soccer...

by melissakalifa - 2009-09-24 12:09:26

my daughter, Stephanie, will be 17 next month and soccer is her passion! it has been since she was 5 years old. she is an excellent player and is hoping to continue playing in college. she found out in May that she needed a pm and had it put in in july. after a summer of not doing any type of exercise, she is now getting back into the jist of things. doctors have said she can play so she's gonna go for it. we will be looking into the paceguard and more than likely purchasing one just to be safe! steph is a forward and a very aggressive player so she will need the additional protection! let her play! if the doctors have cleared her, there is no reason not to...just keep an eye on her and make sure that the doctors are tracking her heart pace...

soccer...

by melissakalifa - 2009-10-08 03:10:05

robin...steph has the transvenous pm. what happened with her was that she had 5 black outs in the last 3 years. started her 8th grade year and all occurred during sporting events. never a full-blown black out, but dizzy, blurred vision, etc. we always thought it must be heat exhaustion or dehydration...worse case, maybe she was anemic. never took her to get checked because it was never that bad. in april of this year, she had her last one and this one was a little worse, she actually did black out this time. she was scheduled to go to europe for the summer and i figured that i'd better get her checked out just in case. her pediatrician noticed the slow heart rate and referred her to the cardiologist...the rest, as they say, is history. stress test, ecg, ekg, holter monitor...a few weeks later, doctor says she needs a pm. dr says that she was likely born with it but it just was never picked up, or maybe because she was an athlete, it didn't affect her. the blockage was obviously getting worse though based on the degree of her "blackouts". i am thankful that it was caught before she had a heart attack or was seriously injured (falling due to a blackout). now we just need to adjust...i'd like to know more about the paceguard, i haven't had time to look into it too much. why is she having a hard time adjusting to it?

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