For my 80 year-old grandmother

Hi everyone. My grandmother is 80 years old. She is now diagnosed with a weaker heart and we were told by the doctors that the solution for it is to aid the heart with a pace maker. We are now confused whether to go ahead with the surgery or not? Will she be able to manage through the surgery and later well and good? She is very old (80), diabetic for almost 40 years now and has slight problems with her kidney functioning. Please help. Your advice is most valuable. Thank you

4 Comments

diagnosis?

by Tracey_E - 2014-09-05 01:09:17

I would say 80 is pretty average, not especially old.

Is her heart weak or slow? Two very different problems. The pacemaker fixes slow. There is a particular type of pacemaker called a CRT that can help with weak, if the ejection fraction is low. Both have good results. If her dr is recommending it and not worried about the surgery, I would go for it. What does she think? You could always get another opinion if it makes all of you feel better.

Surgery is very minor, minimally invasive. Many people older than her have come out of it well. Most of us stay overnight, take it easy for a week or two, then get back to our lives.

It Helped Me.

by azviking - 2014-09-05 01:09:52

79 yo male.

A pacemaker was implanted in May to deal with a slow pulse. The surgery was straight forward and recovery was within weeks. I may be more active than your grandmother and without the other issues that she has.

Later learned that there was some heart damage from a previously-unknown heart failure. If the heart weakens further additional remedies will be needed. With my positive experience I will not hesitate to do so.

In 1960 my then-80 year old uncle had his life extended when a pacemaker was implanted. Since then the technology has improved and many millions of pacemakers have been done so for others.

azviking

80 is not old

by trish - 2014-09-05 06:09:04

I am 76. Had pm implant this year. Consider myself pretty active. Cardiologist just told me to get personal trainer to increase endurance. I have aunt who is 101plus. That is old. Trish

Only 80

by Zia - 2014-09-06 02:09:52

Well, I was only 75 when I got my PM, now 80 and doing fine. I don't have the other issues your GM has but if her doctors think she can handle the surgery (it's pretty simple) then I'd say go for it if she wants to, but wouldn't try to push her into anything she really doesn't want. What does she say about it?

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I finished 29th in London in 2 hours 20 minutes 30 seconds which is my fastest with or without a device so clearly it didn’t slow me down ! I had no problems apart from some slight chaffing on my scar - more Vaseline next time.