Healing

Hello,
I got my pacer put in a year ago March.
I had an ablation that the surgeon messed up and quote, "OVER ablated your heart." My heart rate was between 14-30 without any pacer support.
I have been doing a little reading and thinking. I have a dual lead pacer, but i have not felt it go off for several months now. Is it possible that I may have begun to heal the scar tissue? I read that it is possible to have a pacer removed if you healed enough. I have an 18 month old son I can barely play with because he hits my shoulder and it hurts so bad. If i have the possibility of getting it removed, I think I would take it in a heart beat. But do any of you know anything about this? And what would the procedure be like to have it completely removed? Or the recovery from a surgery like this?

2 Comments

wuw

by Hot Heart - 2010-07-12 04:07:15

It's your back up, think carefully before having it removed.

HH

think about it

by mereiriz - 2010-07-12 12:07:09

My situation is somehow similar. I've had too many ablations and last time they decided to implant a dual chamber pacemaker to be able to ablate my whole sinus node (the natural pacemaker). At first I was using the pacer about 80% of the time, then it went down to 50% and lately I haven't using it at all. What my doctors say is that each and every time the tissue they ablate forms back.They can't explain why but it happens. So yes, it's possible that it also happened to you.

Even though, you say that you haven't felt it go off, but you should be aware that usually you will not feel your pacer working. It's not the same as having a defibrillator. So, you should have a pacemaker check to be sure.

I really don't think that a doctor would agree to remove a pacemaker because you never know if you'll need it again later. But maybe I'm wrong. I just know that I definitely don't want mine removed. I feel secure knowing that it's there if I need it, and even though it can be bothersome and painful sometimes, I can handle it. So think about it.

My recommendation is this: go see your doctor and talk about it.

Best wishes.

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It is just over 10 years since a dual lead device was implanted for complete heart block. It has worked perfectly and I have traveled well near two million miles internationally since then.