St. Jude Merlin Home Transmitter

Thanks for monitor info

by WillieG - 2015-02-12 06:02:27

I appreciate your sharing your info about the home monitors. I have Boston Scientific's Latitude and they just gave me the box when I left the hospital with no guidance. Like you, we read the directions but I was never sure how often it checked you. I know of the scheduled quarterly interrogations but wasn't sure of the daily ones. So thank you for sharing!

I do not take mine while traveling but I have zero pacing and it probably isn't necessary. I suppose your doctor would be the best reason to ask about taking it. They would take up a fair amount of space in a suitcase.

~Wilma

Thanks

by Artist - 2015-02-12 07:02:50

Thanks for your comment Wilma. I had the same experience. The Monitor just showed up at my door step--no briefing by the cardiologist or his nursing staff. Like you, I found the instructions very lacking. I have an appointment with my cardiologist on Mar. 11 and I will pester them with more questions. I would like to know the specific dates they have the interrogations scheduled for and am going to ask them again about traveling with the Merlin. I will probably be in Michigan for two weeks and will be dealing with a lot of stress--a mentally ill younger sister and the care of my 101 year old Mother who is on her 3rd pacemaker. I need to look at selling our family home with all sorts of family art and memorabilia etc. Just lots of stuff on my plate. I have an older sister in California that is slowly dying with a disease called PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy) she can no longer speak and needs a 24-7 caregiver. It is just a terrible, incurable, rare disease. Then to top that off, her husband got a Mersa infection and was given a 5% chance of surviving, but he made it. So, with no other responsible family members, I just hope that I have the strength and endurance to handle these challenges. I tire more easily now. So, It might be a good idea to take the Merlin with me even though the nurse said that I don't need to.

Biotronik Home Monitor

by Lurch - 2015-02-12 08:02:35

I recently had a V-Tach incident while at home. I have a Biotronik ICD which paced me out of tach and I felt better within 30 seconds. I really didn't give it much thought, figuring I just got up from the table too quick and was a little dizzy/light headed.

About two hours later I received a call from the device tech at my Cardiologist's office. She was checking on me because my device had sent her notification that it was required to pace me out of V-Tach.

Started doing some research and contacted Biotronik. My device is set up to send in a report every night. If anything outside of set perimeters is within the reports it automatically sends a message to a Cardiologist and to the device nurse within his office. Additionally, if I am within range of the home monitoring device when it has to take life saving measures, it immediately sends a report.

When I got the device it was set up to test the PM portion weekly, but it was waking me up so they changed it to monthly. Every three months it automatically performs a full interrogation; I receive a notice of that date so I can reschedule if I won't be able to be within range.

I also learned that the monitoring system is cellular. I have it hooked up to a land line within my home but inquired if there was a way to run it through my cell phone (we have been considering eliminating our land line, all we ever get on it is solicitation calls!!!). Biotronik informed me that the home monitoring system is already fully cellular and can operate anywhere it can get a T-Mobile signal!

I wish that the abilities of the monitoring system had been better explained by the Biotronik rep. It would have been nice to know a lot of this without having to experience it first!

Thank you

by Artist - 2015-02-12 09:02:11

Thank you for replying to my post. I know that I can take the Merlin with me and set it up. They would probably still send any urgent reports to my physician in Alabama and I would be in either Michigan or California visiting family so I' not sure how that would work. I will look into this more.
I think I was looking for an easy way out so that I would not have to take it with me.

Just Two Comments

by NiceNiecey - 2015-02-12 12:02:56

First, your post PM irritations will gradually subside. Admittedly, over a year later, I still get a little itchy at the incision site but most problems are gone.

Second, I'd take the Merlin with you on trips. One of my friends in her 40s went on a summer vacation 18 months ago and left hers behind. She was wiped out on the vacation and attributed it to allergies of all things. (Remember: denial is a powerful thing!). When she returned home and plugged it in again, it was a Red Alert and she was immediately hospitalized and had a defibrillator inserted. A valuable lesson for her and a warning for the rest of us.

BTW, I'm impressed that you wrote a letter AND got a thoughtful response. Way to go!

doctor vs merlin controversy

by scott02467 - 2015-06-20 08:06:16

I seem to be in the middle between my cardiologist and Merlin: we just discovered that in electrical work done in renovating our 100 yr old house in May that the workers cut the phone line to the master bedroom where my Merlin montoring unit sits. I clarified with Merlin Tech Support that they had not seen an update from my monitoring unit since May 24th. They said most hospitals have a protocol to call the patients when no data is received after a period of time (they suggested 1-2 weeks). Since it was almost a month without my doctor seeing any data, I was concerned in case something had happened with my pacemaker meanwhile. Merlin support also said I could put the monitoring unit elsewhere in the house as long as I was within 10 feet of it and was around it enough (e.g. 2 hours) for it to poll my pacemaker during the day...that if it didn't "see" the pacemaker at 2a it would poll for it during the day. I called my cardiologist (chairman of the department) and sort of got reamed out by him: he said they've only had Merlin monitoring for two years and it's not "standard of care", that they can't have staff tracking every patient if they don't get data, that at my next 3 month check they'd pick up on not having any data from me (btw, he put me on a yearly appointment schedule last year since I am doing well and had the Merlin monitoring!), and he expressed great doubt that if I wasn't next to the unit at 2a, that the Merlin unit would not get any data at all rest of day. Really trivialized any concerns I had, and his info seems to contradict what I was told by Merlin support. Can anyone comment as to the schedule of polling that is used by Merlin on the pacemaker? Does it check every 2 hours if no response at 2am? Or add what their doctors/hospitals have as protocol in the event data is not sent for a long period of time? I find having the Merlin unit is a very comforting factor (plus having the pacemaker has meant no blackouts from heart block for two years now!). Thanks!

Merlin Monitor Confusion

by Artist - 2015-06-20 10:06:13

I am beginning to think that the nurse practitioners and EPs are really not that well informed about the scheduled checks and procedures for monitoring. I was told that I had to be within 2 feet of the monitor when I am sleeping and that checks are done every night between 2 and 5 a.m.
When I traveled and left my monitor at home, sure enough, there was a two week period that snowed absolutely no data when they read the comprehensive 90 day report in my EP's office. I also was told the only time they make up a missed reading is when they are running the scheduled 90 day check and the patient is not in range for that check.
Then they do try to run that again. If someone is not in range for the brief spot check, that data is just gone and shows a blank data input for that day. I also understand that the Merlin monitoring center just collects the data and there is no interaction unless a significant problem is detected. Then the monitoring office notifies your physician's office. Your physician's office does not check the daily transmissions they only read the 90 day reports or respond if the Merlin monitoring center sends a trouble report to them. Who really knows. It is probably best to continue to call the Merlin phone number and see if they will check your individual records.

Red alert

by Rosie1921 - 2019-11-30 22:07:27

What is a red alert (mentioned above)?

Red Alert

by Artist - 2019-11-30 22:51:55

I'm sorry,  but I can't find a comment about a 'red alert" an I am not aware of any such terminology.  I have never received any red alert an have no knowedge of any technology or feature  like that on my Merlin monitot.

Remote monitoring

by sandsave - 2022-05-03 15:43:49

Remote monitoring

Any idea why my doc would not provide remote monitoring, the Abbot PM tech said he doesn’t like to use them, Is this unusual?

Gary