New to Pacemaker club

• by Theknotguy
• 2013-11-18 08:11:16
• General Posting
• 1112 views
• 5 comments

I’ve been making comments on the boards. This is my story about getting my pacemaker.

I was walking my son’s dogs on a pet trail at a local park. I collapsed after walking 3 ½ miles with the dogs and was almost immediately found by another person walking their dog and a jogger. These two individuals called 911. They were able to give the EMT’s enough of a description of where I was so they were able to park the ambulance close by.

The Park Ranger had previously made friends with the dogs so when she got a call there was a hiker down on the trail with two dogs she was able to quickly find me. By the time the EMT’s had arrived, I had a heart rate of 20. The park ranger quickly arrived with a utility vehicle and it was used to transport me to the ambulance.

While I have no conscious memory of what happened, I was able to answer a couple of questions which alerted the EMT squad to the fact I was a heart patient. While being transported by ambulance, my heart stopped. I was intubated, and CPR was performed. CPR in the ambulance broke a rib and collapsed a lung.

After arrival at the hospital, several attempts were made to restart my heart. I was given CPR while being transferred to the heart OR. In the heart OR I had a temporary pacemaker installed, was attached to a ventilator, had a chest tube installed, and was placed in a medically induced coma using Propofol (Diprivan).

Four days later and after the doctors determined that I would live, a Medtronics pacemaker was installed. After the permanent pacemaker was installed, Propofol was reduced in anticipation of me regaining consciousness. Nurses constantly checked my mental functions. I was able to shake my head “no” for incorrect requests and nod my head “yes” for the correct requests.

I finally regained partial consciousness about noon on the 10th of October. They removed the ventilator tube and I was allowed to breathe on my own. A nose tube was inserted to feed me. I continued to improve although I was still very groggy from the Propofol. I was able to talk with my family although my voice was weak.

I’m very lucky or maybe there was major divine intervention – I don’t know which. It was very fortunate that I was found on the trail almost immediately by another person walking their dog and a jogger. The Park Ranger had talked with me that morning so when the call came in there was a hiker down with two dogs she immediately knew where to find me. In the Columbus, Ohio area EMT people are very well trained in CPR so when my heart stopped in the ambulance they were immediately able to do what was necessary to keep me alive.

I was taken to one of the best heart hospitals in the world where there was a team of heart doctors already assembled who knew how to work on my problems. Modern drugs kept infection at bay and medical machines kept me alive until my body could regain its functions.

I appreciate information I’ve been able to find on this website. Members have answered a lot of questions – some I didn’t even know I had. Every day is a bonus day for me, every minute a bonus minute.

I hope this message will help someone who is new to the pacemaker world.

Theknotguy