what to do or not to do

Hi all, Im a newbie and just had my device put in on Oct 31, 2012. Im really not liking this device and i see alot of you have had trouble sleeping as i do also but my great fear is what i can do and can not do. I am a maintenace tech for a large apt complex and i am really scared to do alot of my job because according to the doctors you can do it but they are not the ones that use welders,saws,drills and i work with electrical issues all the time. Is there anyone out there that can put me at ease about using this equipment on a everyday basis??? I call the pacemaker company and they were pretty standoffish to me and said they would send me stuff on the web. but that didnt really help me. I want to hear from actual maintenance people that do the work i do. So PLEASE. if there is a person out there to help me put my mind at ease, please respond. thank you in advance for your help

7 Comments

Ya want a Toyota?

by donr - 2012-12-08 01:12:56

You asked for it - you got it!

Greg &/or Pattie: I'm not a full time maintenance weenie for an apartment complex, but I have essentially built a house & re built/modified another on for a Daughter in the last nearly ten yrs since I became a PM Host.

Unless you have a PM w/ the RR turned on & use a Bosch "Big Brute" electric jack hammer, you have no sweat!

My tool collection consists of three Bosch btry powered drills/screw guns; a Bosch 1/2 combo drill/hammer drill; Bosch wormdrive circlar saw running wood & masonry blades; Bosch 24 V btry powered circular saw; Bosch 9" angle grinder; Bosch 5" angle grinder; Bosch electric planer; Bosch angle vibratory tool; Bosch 2 1/2 hp Router; Bosch jig saw; Porter Cable Biscuit Joiner; Bosch 10" contractor's table saw. Jet floor drill press.

Now, I give you the Bosch commercial to illustrate that nothing is a shrinking violet when it comes to power & capability. I have rented & used fairly large Bosch & HILTI impact drills.

I routinely drill my was through concrete, granite steel & large chunks of wood.

I use every carpenter's hand tool known - not quite carpenter's grade, but I do swing a 26 oz hammer. I work over my head. under my feet, I swing a pick, mattock, operate a Chinese backhoe, like they used the first time they dammed the Yanktse River. (Known to you as a "D" handled shovel). I operate a Chinese Dump Truck (Just like they used on the same Dam Project - a wheel barrow). chain saw, weed Whacker, lawn mower, Post hole digger, etc.

All I have done is erespect the limitations piut on me for the first 6 weeks post op & have had no problems whatsoever.

ElectricFrank ran out of chains to saw, so he restricts his chainsaw work to trees.

I have leaned on the back end of my drills w/ my upper left chest area & the PM never missed a beat.

Taken a few 120 V shocks left hand to right (or was it right hand to left?) w/zero effect on PM.

I do all sorts of electrical & plumbing work. MOF, right now I am on a break from repairing/replacing an electrical outlet for our dishwasher, crawling back under the kitchen drainboard for access to it.

I just do not work alone - I make sure at least that someone is watching me & aware of the fact that I am working. Usually this duty falls to my Good Wife, who has sat & watched me work for as many hours as I have worked.

I'd be very wary of 240 V service & upward, being extremely careful around it. I have had one PM related incident cause by 240 V service. I came too close to a 240V 30 A cable feeding our hot water heater. The heater was on. Close is about 3 inches from the PM. It switched it into test mode temporarily. Do you have any 440 V service? Just keep arm's length from the 440 V panels & you should be OK.

I've lain across the green transformer box in out the front yard w/o ill effect.

Welders are a different story - unless they are oxyacetylene type. Common sense says to stay as far as practical from the power supply. Very high DC currents, but low voltages at their output. There are several welders in here, perhaps some of them will chime in. As I read their experiences, as long as they stay at normal operating distances from the arcs, they are OK.

You did not say why you have a device & whether it's a PM or ICD.

What I have written is for plain old vanilla PM's. All bets are off for ICD's & if you have the Rate Response switch turned on for a PM.

You just have to try things out by starting off at arm's length w/ anything & move it closer to your body. If done slowly & it affects the PM, it will tell you by going into the test mode, which is reversible as soon as youove away from the magnetic field that caused it.

Good luck w/ getting back to normal activity.

Don

Don..Don..Don.....

by Tattoo Man - 2012-12-08 03:12:41

.........it looks to me that you live in some kind of 'Dons Tool Hire Centre (not Center) '

Greg + Pattie..its very understandable that people have concerns about how appliances...and our electric drills are not that much different frrom 'fridges and vacuum cleaners, might affect PMs..especially when new to this Android World.

G+P...you will be at no risk...but forgive me if I focus my attention to Don.

Don..you seem to be one of the PMC Test Pilots, along with Frank and some others....so come on ,...lets up the game...and I invite questions that might come under the title...

CHALLENGE DON

OK...I'll start........Don ,.have you tried jumping off an electricity pylon, doused in aviation fuel , while waving a petrol Stihl saw ..running ,..towards a herd of buffaloes.

With your trousers on fire ?

PMC..get Don going..if only for a pre-Christmas treat

TM



TM: How you know you are...

by donr - 2012-12-08 08:12:20

...growing old!

Your "Kids" ages 41 - 52 start acting like you are incapable of doing anything. It starts when they tell you "Here, Dad, hold the flashlight for me." Which is followed up by "Dad, hold it where, I am working, not where YOU want to see!" Followed by, "Now I know what it was like for you when I was 12 yrs old, holding the flashlight for you." Finally, they understand.

Then there was the time #2 Daughter needed a new clutch in her Honda after about 50,000 miles. We met in the garage & she tells me "Dad, let's get this straight - I'm not here JUST to hold the flashlight!" & the job went downhill from there.

Now we are up to them literally taking a tool out of my hands & saying "Dad, let me do that."

From my daughters I keep getting "Dad, why don't you hire someone to do that?" I'll betcha that they've already bought my casket! Sheeeesh! Meanwhile, they are still going out & doing "That" themselves.

How do you think Frank has lived to be 125 yrs old? He keeps doing all these nutty things that people tell him he shouldn't be doing. My goal is to keep up w/ him.

To answer your question, I've never done anything as whacky as what you suggested from an electric pylon.

But - I have removed the fuse from a captured Russian anti-tank artillery projectile with a plumber's basin wrench designed to remove drains from lavatories. Then I took the large cartridge case & popped the igniter w/ a ball pien hammer & a punch. (Sounded just like a huge elephant passing gas after a hearty meal on fresh alfalfa.)

But your idea sounds like fun. I'll have to run out to buy the Stihl saw first. Got a dealer right up the road.

Ever see Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the lost Ark? I did the act on the bonnet of a truck before he did. Didn't tell wife till many years later. Wonder why?

Don

you name it

by novie - 2012-12-09 09:12:12

you got to love these guys...they have most of the answers that will tickle you to the bone....
Full of information(maybe stated in some hilarious ways but very informative....
I was told and did some researched too...that pm reacts with the biggest electrical thing but of course ...it doesn't work for everyone..
First time I went with my son to one of the biggest electronics bldg....I had a floating sensation that I cannot explain so I went out of the bldg then try again if it will happen and it did...that was a week after I have pm fitted
I tried to drive after a week and I feel like something is crushing my chest.... I decided to be a passenger and nothing happened...
Those two incidents...really beats the hell out of me....but that was then
I'm a bit okay now...but not driving yet...but I can go in anywhere without incidents...
good luck
novie

Disclaimer !!

by donb - 2012-12-09 11:12:28

After 20 years of PM'ers I am pretty much guilty of abusing my body with all of the above, "BUT" with any signs of lightheaded problems, beware. I've done tree trimming on 20' ladders with my handy dandy chain saw, not too smart at age 81. I'm pretty much in the dog house as having my 4th PM move out of it's pouch from doing overhead bullwork reaching & stretching while on a ladder. Result 5th pacemaker pre-maturely revision. Wife hid my trusty pipewrench for installing 200 amp electrical service (home project).
Actually this last episode has been the only physical problem affecting my PM sites as I was sure my under muscle PM was sutured. My surgeon now tells me, "It was not sutured" ???? Nuff Said !!!
DonB

Floating Sensation in Electronics Building

by ElectricFrank - 2012-12-09 11:12:48

Sounds like one of the machines stored you in the Cloud for a while!!!

frank

gregandpattie

by conchfm - 2012-12-11 11:12:31

Check out my topic, "Don't listen to doctors", .It may clear up some off your questions. CONCHFM.

You know you're wired when...

You can feel your fingers and toes again.

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