1st diagnosed in 1960

• by gladtobealive
• 2014-03-27 03:03:27
• General Posting
• 934 views
• 3 comments

Hi, In 1960 I was told by my family Dr that I should see a Cardio Dr cause my HR was very low, 40-45. That is when I was told I had a COMPLETE heart block (completely missing the electrical connection between the upper and lower chambers) and because of my previous style of life, it was conjenitial. Nothing was suggested to do at that time. Now jump up to 1979, when after moving to CA it was again suggested that I see a Cardio Dr. He took a very strong interest in my condition. At that time he said their was only about 20 of us in the US (seems like much more with this forum) that are surviving with this condition, and we were helping them write the info in the medical journal. In 2002 he called me and said that 1 of 'us' had been playing tennis, stopped, and during the hearts 30 sec recovery period, he passed out. EMT'S placed an external Pacer, implanted in hospital. Said that after stress test during 30 sec recovery, all of our EKG's looked the same, like a seismograph reading. All concerned Dr's then thought this was normal, cause we were all the same. Normal, but possibly not in our favor.
When I was asleep, my HR dropped to 26-27bpm, normalday 35-40, BP was allways on the very low side. He suggested a Pacer. The battery lasted, 2002-2009, when a replacement Dr implanted an ICD. Also during this period of time I would go in and out of A-fib frequently, so far med's can't correct this. I don't have any symtons with Afib, they read it of my ICD.
I don't know (my Dr either) if I would still be alive today without the Pacer's, but I am. I am 73 yr's old, and even without the heart block, in the 60's, who would have thought I would have lived this long??