Pacemaker placed, after seven years of deliberatio

• by Helmut
• 2014-11-22 12:11:33
• General Posting
• 975 views
• 6 comments

Hi all! I'm new here and just got a pacemaker implanted three days ago, seven years after my first diagnosis of intermittent third degree av-block. I guess what I'm doing here is just telling you my story because I feel a need to get it off my chest, and share it with people with similar experiences. I've actually never talked with anyone with similar experiences.
I've been living in three different countries since my first diagnosis, and I think about ten different cardiologist have been treating me (well actually only the last one actually treated me). It's been kind of a limbo. I'm this borderline patient. When first diagnosed I was 30, pauses were typically around 3 seconds, three to five times a day and with little symptoms. I was perhaps experiencing a little dizziness, it's hard to be sure, but yes every once in a while I would feel something. Because of my age and lack of serious symptoms doctors were typically conservative. I had yearly holters, showing the same pauses, even an EP study which was felt to be normal.
Different doctors had different names for my condition and offered different prognosis. Some said I had second degree av-block with spells of third degree, some said I had advanced av-block, and still others just plainly called it third degree av-block. Some said sooner or later I would definitely need a pacemaker, and others were convinced that my problem was "vagal", not serious and with a good prognosis. Of course, we often believe what we want to be true, so I liked the "vagal" doctors a little better than the others.
Then some time ago I moved again, to a new country, and luckily got access to a really world class hospital. One day I had a dizzy-spell which was worse than the ones before, I felt like I was going to pass out, and went to the ER. After hospitalizing me for a few days without observing anything else than the typical three second pauses they equipped me with an event-recorder. Three months later the first reading. Boom, symptomatic daytime pauses between four and five seconds, and an appointment for a pacemaker implantation two days later. I half-heartedly tried to wiggle myself out of it, but the doctor was not "vagal" and very clear. "You need this or it's a matter of time before you start passing out or worse."
So here I am, chest is sore, and a dual chamber medtronic pacing my heart whenever there's a need for it, and trying to figure out how I feel about it. What if it's not necessary? I was feeling fine! Then on the other hand, what if it is necessary? What if I would've passed out and hurt myself? What if I wouldn't wake up again? It feels safe to have it there.
Upside of waiting seven years? Well, seven years without the nuisance, and perhaps more important, I got an MRI approved device, which was not available seven years back...