what info to expect from checkup`

Hi Everyone,
First time poster and new member. 72 yr old healthy female and still employed as a full-time flight attendant and on no prescription drugs. Palpitations, elevated BP, very good EKG and ECHO....the Holter Monitor revealed 5 sec pause. Cardiologist and electrophysiologist diagnosed Sick Sinus Syndrome and scheduled PM implant.

Dec 07, 2011 was implant. At check-up Dec 20, 2011, the only info I left with was: 60bpm, no driving, don't elevate left arm higher than shoulder. After reading posts from this website, I feel that I was left out of info that should have been revealed to me.

My next check-up is Jan 13, 2012, to determine what date I should return to work as a flight attendant. I still have swelling and soreness in the incision area and a pulling sensation in the lead area. Please advise me as to what questions to ask at this check-up and info to take back with me. Some members not only had numbers to refer to but printouts, too, from their check-ups or interrugations. I had nothing like that.

Thank you for reading my scenerio. I would appreciate your input. Been so healthy all my life, that this implant has been a shock to my system. Have not had a good night's sleep since Dec 07, 2011. Thank you all for sharing.....Anna

2 Comments

Anna: you've been...

by donr - 2012-01-10 11:01:20

...Short changed!

You sound like a lady who takes care of herself. Well it's time to do it NOW. They treated you like a dummy that would not understand any of what she was told, so let's start at the beginning:

1) TELL them you want a print out to take home with you. That way, you can study it & ask US questions about things you do not understand - which will be a LOT, I promise you. There is far more data than you can digest in the first session.
2) Ask them to explain the print out to you. Starting on Page 1. Most of the data really isn't much use to you, but there is a ton that is.
3) I think I read that you have a Medtronic device - so do I, so the format of the print out should be identical. Almost everything you need to know is on the first couple pages. The rest is principally interesting to the tech who downloads you.
4) Get the lower & upper limits for Heart Rate (HR) that it is set for. That will give you an idea how active they think you are. It will look like this 60/140 or some such - sorta like a BP. The lower limit is the HR below which the PM will not let you go. The upper limit is the HR where it stops pacing efforts & just becomes an interested passive bystander. Up to that HR it will monitor your heart & if it does not see an electrical pulse when it expects one, it takes over & provides the pulse.
5) Ask to see the log of all the irregular beats. The PM has a storage memory that can store great gobs of history of what your heart does. Ask them to explain it. Now - to keep you from freaking out!!!!! Your heart beats about 3 MILLION times per month if your HR is 60 BPM. So, if you see that some wierd thing happened several thousand times in a month it's NO BIG DEAL - unless it was your heart not beating - then it's a big deal.
But, ask them to characterize the significance of the numbers of wierd beats that occur.
6) Ask the to show you battery life - should be about 8 yrs at this point. The PM can predict to within days when its battery will croak. LOOOOOONG time yet.
7) there are a couple histograms showing the distribution of HR's during the month. Do NOT expect to see the greatest number of a given rate near the bottom. That is essentially a resting rate & you only go there when you are sound asleep. You will be surprised at how fast your heart beats most of the time.
8) Ask them to show you and explain the pacing frequency. The numbers are expressed in percentages. Sounds like you will not be paced a large percentage of the time. ME - I'm paced about 99.6% of the time - no big deal!

That's about enough for your first visit.

I have learned that cardio's only tell you what they think you can handle & understand. Therefore, they sorta wait for you to demonstrate a thirst for knowledge. You ask they will tell you. They will only volunteer a small amount of data. Actually it can be like drinking from a fire hose. Don't be surprised.

If something doesn't make sense, nod & grunt at the appropriate time then come back here & ask us about it. Somewhere in this place is someone who knows.

BTW: I'm 75 & have had my PM since Feb 2003. More on my background is listed in my profile.

Good luck.

Don

Welcome Anna

by Pookie - 2012-01-11 01:01:13

Don said it all, he's very wise, take his advice.

I posted something for all the newbies just a few days ago, so keep scrolling down, you should be able to find it, its full of information you should have been given.

And ask as many questions here as you want, we're here to help & support you in any way that we can:)

Take care,
Pookie

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