Cardiac PM/ICD Hosts are...

...extremely lucky that they don't sit on their PM incisions - like my Wife does.

Last Wed she rec'd a Medtronic PM for bladder incontinence.

That little sucker is shaped just like our PM's (I wonder why?) & is placed on your back just below the belt line. It feeds a wire that is run down to a spot on your buttocks that is on the centerline & right next to the sacral nerve.

It constantly stimulates the sacral nerve to keep the bladder sphincter muscle tight, which works, believe it or not!

Well, it is in a location that you lean against all the time. Unless you are in bed on your side, you lean on it. She has ALL the unpleasantness associated w/ our PM incisions, except that she also leans on it all the time.

Next time you or someone you knows complains about their PM incision below the collarbone, just ask them if they'd rather SIT on it?

OOOOOOOOOH, that's fun!

Don

13 Comments

Send her my best regards

by Duke999 - 2013-07-28 02:07:55

Hi Don, I just want to wish your wife a speedy recovery and also, I want to thank you for each of your explanations to some of my previous technical questions (the last one I post was "Atrial Preference Pacing"). I want to call you Professor Don. I'm still learning and stuck on a lot of things that I don't understand about this PM. I can't believe how complicated it can be. Its physical design appears simple with 2 leads coming out, but it's the coding (algorithm) that's complicated. It's like a 0 and a 1. Between just those 2 digits, human can communicate infinite number of expressions. Anyway, just want to say you and your wife are quite strong people, I admire you both and I'll talk to you soon.

Duke

ouch!

by Hope - 2013-07-28 03:07:17

Thinking, Don, your wife would not care to hear whining about placement sites from heart patients. I admire her courage to give the device a try, and I hope her recovery goes smoothly. Please keep us posted, and let her know she is being thought of. Hopeful Heart

What will they think of next...

by KAG - 2013-07-28 07:07:53

....pretty neat use of technology. Hopefully you aren't the type to get bored and decide to play with your wife's remote settings to see what happens. LOL

I'm soooo glad that I don't sit on my incision. No complaints coming from me.

Kathy

Whining

by donr - 2013-07-28 08:07:54

Hope: She's actually doing quite well at tolerating the minor (actually) discomfort she has had. I have truly bitten my tongue several times when it comes to talking about it. Taken nothing stronger than Tylenal (Aceminophen) for discomfort.

Yes, I've used the "...you lost a knife fight w/ a pro while you were asleep..." line on her several times. She has yet to kick me in the shins over that one, so I assume she has accepted it in the context I have said it.

The great unveiling was lasterday evening & "voila!" there it was - a PM scar on someone's butt! She wanted to see it, so I took a photo of it for her. Looks better after 72 hrs than some PM scars do after a yr! No redness, swelling, oozing, etc. at all. A beautiful scar will be wasted in a place where no one can admire it (We do NOT frequent Nudie beaches).

She drove home from the surgery about 2 hrs post-op. They used Propofol on her, so she cleared up rapidly & we were out of the recovery room w/i an hour.

She has a great plumber, who stood around chatting w/us for about 10 min after she awoke. (That's after Wife awoke, not the Plumber.) I cannot drive for practical reasons - I cannot stay awake behind the wheel longer than about 5 min & the Plumber knows about that so here's how the conversation went.

P(lumber): She (points at Wife) did really well!
D(on): Doc, how well she did doesn't mater! How well did YOU do?
P: I did just great!
D: Good! You're the one that counts, all W(ife) did was be a big lump on the table for you to carve on.
P: Well, I was just great today. Procedure went very smoothly & quickly. (Looking at W) who's going to drive you home?
D: Well, I'm not. You know I can't drive the 50 miles to get home.
W: Well, he's definitely not going to do it!
D: Hmmmm, we've got a problem. (Looks at nurse making notes) How about you, would you like to drive us home?
N(urse): Not me!
P: (Consternation showing, looking at W) You were supposed to bring a driver to get you home.
D: looks like we are stuck here overnight. Got a spare bed in here?
P: C'mon now, surely you brought someone to drive you home.
D: (looking at W) Guess she's going to have to do it.
P: Well, she definitely can't.
D: Why not, she looks awake to me.
P: but she just awoke from general anesthesia - she CANNOT drive! (Now she's getting a little concerned.)
D: Doc - truth is that we got a motel room about a mile from here. I can drive THAT far - I think.
P: (Giving me the evil eye as only a female Dr. can.) Are YOU sure you can drive that far?
W: He can drive THAT far - I'll keep him awake.
D: Now comes the most dangerous part of the surgery - me driving her a mile. Don't worry, Doc, I'll stay awake.
N: (By this time she has stepped back out of the tight circle we were in To hide the look of disbelief she wears & to silently laugh to herself about the whole conversation. Were the P not there, she'd have been ROFLHAO. She realized that W & D were pulling P's leg & P had stepped right into it like any good sucker would.)

Nurse wheeled Wife down to car & I got under the wheel. Wife became wide -eyed in terror at the thought of me driving. It was beginning of rush hour in Atlanta & it took us about 20 min to get the mile to the motel.

All the while, sitting behind stopped vehicles, I kept nodding off, only to be awakened by Wife sharply saying "DON! Wake up!"

We got to the motel & I cancelled the reservation; She took the wheel, started the engine & I promptly fell sound asleep & she drove us home, where I finally woke up.

Did not run across a single bear the whole day.

I swear all the above is true. You may call her Plumber, Dr. Joan Hader, in Atlanta, who will affirm that it all transpired exactly as reported (well, there will be a few exceptions).

Cheers, all. So far, the Sun is shining & no rain in sight. A rarity for us this summer. Almost reminds us of living in Seattle - or London.

Don

Explaining an algorithm

by donr - 2013-07-28 09:07:24

Duke: Please, skip the professor - I had to read the same thing you read about APP. I just had one advantage. I knew that an Algorithm did not refer to a former Vice President as named by a certain conservative radio talk show host, so I could figure out what the explanation meant.

I also cheated a bit on you - I worked for Allen Bradley, a factory automation company, for a while, so had a session while there learning control logic for big numerically controlled machine tools. Our PM's perform the exact same digital logic for controlling our hearts as big computers do for automated manufacturing machine tools. PM's do the exact same sensing, storing, comparing & controlling.

Thanks for the compliment that was really meant for ElectricFrank. He was truly the professor. No one will ever be his equal. Pookie expressed the grief & sorrow I feel in missing him & his words of wisdom.

Don

Interesting use of....

by KAG - 2013-07-28 12:07:37

....PM technology. Sounds like it's pretty new. Good to hear that your wife is handling it well. Does she get that from you or you from her? So you mentioned that it continually stimulates the sacral nerve to keep the bladder sphincter muscle closed. I would assume there is an algorithm to occasionally open the bladder sphincter? Have you done your normal research to know how it works?

LOL on the post op conversation.

BTW my minor PM adjustment seems to have done the trick so far. I haven't pushed real hard yet but 'am working up to it.

Great days to you and your wife!
Kathy

How the Bladder PM Works

by donr - 2013-07-28 12:07:46

Kathy: Interesting question. (There are two manuals about 1/2" thick each on the device.) The bladder PM constantly stimulates the Sacral Nerve w/ a low voltage - about 1 V DC from a battery in PM. Its real name is "Stim," but everyone calls it a PM, including the Plumber & the Medtronic Guy. Since it functions 24/7, the battery life is only about 4-5 yrs. It comes w/ a remote control (Good Grief, not another remote to lose in the couch cushions!) & an antenna. Unless you have arms like an NBA Basketball player, w/ elbows that bend either direction, you need someone else to help you w/ the "Clicker." It also helps if you can read around corners, or can operate it using a mirror. If you can't visualize that difficulty, go get a TV remote & try operating it while it is placed against your butt. It has to be flush w/ the skin surface to function & you have to be able to read the screen to know what is going on back there. The antenna is in the end of a 1-2 ft long lead that plugs into the clicker, hopefully so you can operate the device in front of you while groping for your butt (Hopefully being capable of doing so w/ only 1 hand. If you are one of those people characterized as being "incapable of finding their butt w/ two hands," you are SOL!)

The stim voltage is adjustable in .1 V increments & is adjusted by feedback from the host of the device in response to certain questions about feeling a "Fluttering" in a certain anatomical part that only women have in the nether regions of the pelvic zone. If the voltage is too high, you'd better have dark sunglasses & a high volume bladder, or an overflow pipe. Properly adjusted, it allows one to function as you did when younger & all the sphincter muscles had their original tone.

I'm not sure if the clicker can be programmed to operate from the universal remote that we have that can control all 5 electronic gadgets we have in our audio system in the living room. That would be nice. If it can, I'll have to get our teen-aged granddaughter in here to program that - I have yet to understand how to make that device work.

At breakfast today I told her about this thread & her comment was "I'd better not hear any whining about incisions hurting, they don't sit on theirs." Guess you won't get much empathy from her then.

Don

You've been replaced !!

by Grateful Heart - 2013-07-29 01:07:27

Very glad your Wife is doing well. She is one tough lady and it sounds like another amazing device.

You've been replaced as the family PITA !

Didn't think you would give up that rank so easily. :0)

Grateful Heart

Thank You Don !!

by donb - 2013-07-29 03:07:30

Just read your Private Message & finally realized reading part of your wife's episode bot forgot to mention it in my message to you Talk about pacemaker sites, guess it's only normal to feel the pain just thinking about it. Also appreciate your complete description of her pacemaker's functions. Really interesting how far our medical field has extended the use of electronics. My wife's brother, age 62 & a MS patient since high school is using an electronic stimulator on his leg & it's doing a great job as he's also a runner to keep in shape.
Enjoyed your (Trip Home from hospital) coverage. Sounds so familiar!! Wifey wasn't too happy as I snuck out with her car to local hardware store & I reminded her I have absolutely no limitations for driving or doing anything else !!
That's what's called being "protective".

Watch it Grateful...

by donr - 2013-07-29 08:07:38

...Dana is still just over Storm King & at a lower level of intensity!

That's a good one, I must admit!

Don

LOL.....

by Grateful Heart - 2013-07-29 10:07:21

On second thought, you still hold that rank!

Dana would probably agree....LOL.

I have to meet her one of these days.....how long is she there until?

Until...

by donr - 2013-07-29 11:07:14

...June 2017 the way things are going today.
Her macabre sense of humor is seeing her through.

Don

Thinking of you!

by Betts1963 - 2013-08-11 10:08:10

I haven't been on here in quite some time but having been thinking of my new friend often. I'm glad your wife is doing well. I'm sorry she has it in such a bad spot. I hope with time will be less bothersome for her.

You know you're wired when...

Your electric tooth brush interferes with your device.

Member Quotes

I love this new part of me, and very, very thankful that this technology exists and I know that it's all only going to get better over time.