My new best buddy

I've had my Pacer for nearly two weeks now and I have to ask why we didn't do this a couple of years ago. I feel wonderful! No more swollen ankles and feet, legs that feel like boat anchors and joint pain. Major reduction in my BP meds including Lasix. I just hope this is not a temporary thing but until I begin to feel a need to slow down, I'm going ahead with my life.

I was in the process of painting the exterior of my house and half done when my A/Fib sent me into CHF on Father's Day. Like many others on this site, I wondered if there would be life after the implant. Well, ten days later I'm back to painting but with necessary precautions of physical limitations of course and getting in out of the 100 degree heat here in E Texas by 11AM. I have resumed pretty much a normal life again with the gift of feeling better than I have for a number of years. I'm walking long distances again for the first time in 6 years and doing most everything that I would have done in the past. I even lifted two 50# dog food bags. I know they tell you to not lift more than a gallon of milk but two German Shepherds eat a lot of food and my incision was healed. My best furry buddy Klaus worries so much about this thing whatever it was that they did to me. He is my new walking buddy. He is my shadow from the time my feet hit the floor at 4AM until I go to bed at night.

My initial worries of EMI turned out to be a lot of hype that I read in the St Jude user manual and so far the only things that make it take off was my Norelco Razor and store security guards.

Enough of my rambling, Just feel so good I had a need to tell everyone.

3 Comments

Good news is good news!!

by sunny@heart - 2013-06-30 06:06:23

so glad you are doing so well. i am new to this site but had my PM placed in 04... a resynchronization device to help the heart failure.. I too felt such a huge difference in how I felt... almost as if I wasn't sick!! I could do things I couldn't dream of doing & it was such a relief! I remember that feeling well and I am really glad for you!
Sunny

Be careful

by ohiolaura - 2013-07-01 08:07:24

In 2 weeks your incision is healing,but not fully healed Id believe.The problem is lifting.There is a reason the Dr tells you not to lift anything over 5 lbs(for the most) for 6 weeks,it is because the leads have to stay in place and develop scar tissue around them,thats the best I can explain from what I know,which is a little more than basics.
I would refrain from the lifting again,as if your lead(s) come displaced or something,you probably wont be feeling so good anymore,and may have to go back in for work.
I am at my 1st anniv. tomorrow,and have to say I followed directions ( tough as they may have been to follow) to the letter,as my family made sure of.
Have had no issues,and am thankful for it,and I had to have family lift the 50 lb feed bags for awhile last year,didnt hurt them,now and for awhile now,I don't ask for help,I do it myself,and actually nobody even asks me if I want help with things......hmmmmmmm,guess they figure Im good!
Be careful,you don't want to go backwards with your progress and recovery.
Laura

Thanks for the comments & help

by chuckh - 2013-07-03 08:07:46

I went to my Dr for a followup yesterday and everything is looking good. Pacer is working well and healing is on target. But now my wife knows about the lifting limits so I'm on house best behavior watch. LOL

To angrysparrow; Thank you for the comments about your best furry buddy.

Klaus is kind of a one-of-a-kind guy. We know nothing of his background or breeding except that a man somewhere in his young life must have beat on him very badly.

My wife and I have had at least one German Shepherd in our family since about the 1960's. Rommel was out first GSD and we got him as a 8 week old puppy. It was cold at the time and I brought him home in my coat pocket. Nine years later when he died from heart failure he was about 115# and in excellent condition so his death was a real shock to us. We learned then that several of his ancestors had heart issues.

At that point, we became interested in giving rescued GSD's a second chance at having a good home with a loving family and good vet care. Currently, we have living with us GSD #6 Rondi who will be 9 on July 4th and GSD #7 Klaus, age unknown but probably about 3 1/2, all of the GSD's that passed through our lives have lived to either a natural death or had to be euthanized due to health problems. Rondi was a "free to good home" ad in the Colorado Springs news paper when I was doing contract telecom work there in 2005. She had spent her 1st year of life in a small kennel crate, weighed only 24 pounds, was fearful of everything and everyone and most of all, petrified of men. It5 was nearly 4 years before she really began to warm ot me but now she loves to play rough house with me. She weighs about 90# now and is fearful of very little other than thunder and gun shots. She is gentle and loving and would have made a great search and rescue dog.

We acquired Klaus in September of 2010 when a lady from Shreveport, La GSD rescue called us about a GSD that was in the Layfette, La shelter and was due to be euthanized the next day if noone claimed or adopted him. We rushed down to Layfette and adopted him within 10 minutes of meeting him. He was picked up running stray on the streets and no one claimed him during the required time period. He obviously was a GSD from very good breeding but definitely lacked good care and TLC.

Within a month of bringing him home, he began trying to lick my wife's right breast. We wondered what kind of a freaky dog we had acquired. Two months later, my wife learned that she had breast cancer from her annual Mammogram and the growth was exactly where Klaus was trying to lick. When I brought her home from the hospital after the lumpectomy, he ran to her, sniffed her over and ran off to play. Since then he has amazed us at how he not only knows when you are hurting but where you hurt. I had Hernia surgery last year and he knew where the Hernia was and tried to make it feel better. After the repair surgery, he checked out the 7 little scars from points of entry, was a bit concerned about them but seemed to realize that I was no longer hurting.

So as you can see, Klaus is already MY service dog. He is very social, loves to meet people, has good manners, barks only when necessary, listens and respondes well to all of his obedience commands, highly intelligent, takes good care of everyone and most of all, he has decided that not all men beat GSD's. We never strike a dog in anger but we do have some real knock-down-drag-out rough house sessions. Even as social as he is though, there are two things you just NEVER mess with..... Mom is definitely out-of-bounds and don't ever try to mess with dad's pick-up truck either.

I really would like to learn more about the service/medical alert subject you suggested.

You know you're wired when...

Your device makes you win at the slot machines.

Member Quotes

Good luck with your surgery. It will improve life amazingly.