Question re: first few months post op

• by Griddlebone
• 2014-11-07 11:11:16
• Checkups & Settings
• 1577 views
• 3 comments

I had my pacemaker implanted Sept. 18. I saw my regular doc for a wound check 5 days later, then the cardiologist at the end of September. He did an interrogation and said I had atrial sensing (yay) and ventricular pacing (ok, fine), with 96% pacemaker driven. Wow, I was surprised the number was so high. My voltage was 3 V. This was the first cardio I talked to in the hospital but he was not available for surgery so his colleague did the surgery.

I saw the second doctor, the one who did the surgery, a month later at the end of October. There was a minor wound care issue which was resolved. I talked to him about the strange burbly sensations under the sternum and he said he didn't feel they had anything to do with the PM. We talked about the wackadoodle gastroenterologist and formed a plan going forward for that. So the visit was more or less successful but he did not do an interrogation of my PM. I asked him and he said, "You're doing fine, we don't need that now." I had waited in the exam room about an hour and 15 minutes, so he was running quite late and I had a lot of other questions, and I am not sure if I had just run out of time for that visit - if so, that's unforgivable and I would have expected a follow up appointment to be set for the near future. But according to what he said, he felt it wasn't necessary. He set up a follow up for 6 months, at the end of April.

I had been somewhat distracted during the exam by the other issues and forgot that I had questions about the voltage. Our hospital system recently set up a computerized system and encourages patients to use it. I left a non-urgent e-mail asking about the voltage last Friday (i.e. a week ago) and have heard nothing back. I wouldn't be surprised if that office never checks the e-mail feature; it's the hospital system that's promoting it.

I plan to go old school and call the office on Monday, but knowledge is a good thing. Is it common to stay at 3 V for over 7 months following the implantation? The first doctor, the one who did the interrogation, said that they would reduce my voltage and I got the impression it would be in a 2 month time frame.

This office does not use St. Jude techs; they do the interrogations themselves. I talked to the tech in the hospital the morning after my surgery and he told me I might not see the techs again. He told me about Merlin@Home. I asked the first doc about it and he said, "Oh, you want that? We don't know who gets those reports. They go somewhere. We don't have many patients who want that." I called St. Jude on another matter (which numbers to give the GI doc) and asked them and they said it was up to the doctors whether they wanted to prescribe Merlin@Home. It was free to me if the doc wanted it but they had to initiate the request.

So, first, the 3 V thing - 7 months at 3 V? Really? And second, does all this sound pretty normal? I am more or less happy with both cardiologists but I think we have a communication problem. Thanks for input.