What to expect, for the rest of my life!

Hi! I'm 23 years old (really age doesn't matter, with this type of thing I guess) I have 2 children; 1 & 4 and I'm getting a pacemaker placed this Friday morning, I'm very nervous, for one I've never had surgery before in my life so that is just a scary thought to me to begin with. Although, with me being as scared and nervous as I am, I'm kinda excited to start living normally again, if that's normal haha! I was diagnosed at 15 with P.O.T syndrome and was told I would out grow it by 18 well 18 came around and I thought it was gone, and after my second child I went in to the cardiologist to get a check up to make sure everything was fine and "gone" and he ordered a tilt table and 4 minutes after they stood me up, I blacked out an and my heart stopped for 20 seconds, and was told I needed a pacemaker. I cried for 2 weeks thinking I'm not 80 years old how can I need a PM? I got over it and decided I'd much rather have the PM than to die early and not see my kids grow up! I'm ready to just be normal again, and not have to worry about when am I going to pass out again!

So really my question(s) is(are); are there things you can't do with the PM? (I'm getting the MRI safe PM) what do I need to expect durning surgery, and recovery? Any helpful tips? Do any of you travel outside the US?

I'm still very nervous, but I know it needs to be done!

Thanks in advance!

2 Comments

A Whole New Life!!!

by donr - 2012-12-18 03:12:33

That's what you have to look forward to!

Lesli, let's take this challenge one step at a time. First is to get through the surgery w/o turning into a quivering bowl of Jello. Then we worry about the recovery period, then the rest of your life.

I'll start by telling you that this point in your life, never having surgery, you are authorized to be scared out of your ever-lovin' skull. But - waitaminit - you gave birth to a pair of children. That qualifies as "Surgery" - unless you birthed them on the kitchen table w/ your local Vet attending while the father boiled water. The only thing different will be the table & the apparatus in the room. I guarantee you, the discomfort will be far less - as reported to me by my Wife after 4 births. The recovery should be less uncomfortable. It also will not take as long.

The room will be filled w/ more electronic equipment than a mad scientist's lab. Speaking of which, you will be met by a team of people who will scrub you down, stick a few needles in you, attach an ECG machine to you, drape you, hopefully throw a warm blankee over you - it will be slightly colder than a meat locker in there because of all the electronic equipment. Your first clue will be the appearance of the crew wearing Arctic parkas & Mukluk boots. You will also see their breath. Make sure you ask them a ton of questions about what they are doing. It will help your morale & give you info as to what they are doing & why. Tell them outright that you are scared. They expect that & will talk to you to help you out. Introduce yourself to the head of the team - his name will be Igor, I promise you, & he will probably limp a bit, occasionally he will give a sadistic cackle as he adjusts the giant electrodes connected to the lightning rods outside. Bet they never mentioned that part of the procedure.

They should offer you sedation so that you are just barely drifting under consciousness. They need to be able to talk to you while the procedure is going on. I recall having one of the nurses lift the sheet over my head & saying "Hi, how are you doing under here. Just wanted to check in w/ you." & then she went about her business. They kill the pain w/ local anesthesia. You come back from the sedation in literally minutes & will wind up in recovery. Should be in & out on the same day.

I have to run an errand now - I'll let someone else take over at this point. If they let me down, I'll be back to finish the narrative in a couple hours.

Don

Getting A PM

by SMITTY - 2012-12-19 04:12:43

Hi Lesli,

I can understand your concern about the upcoming PM surgery, but like you have been told, it is unnecessary concern. I had heart surgery (quadruple bypass) a few years before I got my first PM and the only thing in common to the two surgeries the name "heart surgery." PM surgery is a breeze compared to the open heart surgery.
To give you an idea of what is involved below is something I have written about my PM surgery experiences. I got my first PM in 2000 and the 2nd one in 2009. Both were done in the same hospital but by different Drs. Both surgeries were almost identical. So to give you some idea of what you are facing:

I arrived at the appointed time, which was 7 AM. I was given a some of the hospitals latest fashions to put on and told to lie down and get comfortable as it would be a little while before the surgery. I read the paper and watched TV for a couple of hours while other PM patients were also being readied for their PM . After about an hour I got an IV and spent the next 3 or 4 hours being "prepped" which consisted mainly of getting about a quart (at least it looked like that amount) of antibiotic through the IV and the surgery area cleaned and cleaned real good.
About noon the doctor showed up and examined the area for the implant. After another hour or so I was wheeled off to the surgery area where I spent another 30 or 40 minutes being "dressed or draped" for the surgery. Sometime after I got in the surgery area I received some medication to make me relax so they said, but what it did was make take a nap in about a half-sleep mode. I vaguely remember being told they were injecting a local anesthetic into the area where the surgery would be performed so I would not feel the anything. About 45 minutes later I was told, "okay Mr. Smith, we are through and your pacemaker is working just fine." I was wheeled back into a room where I had to wait for awhile to be sure I had no adverse reactions to any of the meds I had received. About 5 PM I was told I could go home.
I was not unexpectedly sore and my healing was no problem. I did have restricted use of my arm for a few days, the main thing being not to raise my elbow above my shoulder, or lift more than a few lbs. Each of us is different, therefore get slightly different instructions) with the arm on the side of the PM. I was n lot allowed to drive for about 24 hours and then for short distances for a week or so. All in all the pain is less than most dental surgery I have had, and since I was retired even with the first one, it did not interfere with any activates.

One last word, you will go home with your Drs best guess on PM settings. Most of the time these are good, but occasionally some people need to have those settings tweaked. If you think your PM is causing you a problem, if it is just that you think something is amiss, let your Dr know, otherwise he will have no way of know everything is not perfect.

Good Luck,

Smitty

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Member Quotes

In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.