Hello

Hi all,

I am completely new to the world of pacemakers. My mother is scheduled to have one implanted in her tomorrow and honestly, I am a bit worried. I understand this is a normal, very common procedure and I know she will be back on her feet in no time! I was hoping to see if there are other folks like me who have loved ones who have pacemakers.

What is the best support you can give a loved one? What should one be mindful in regards to pacemakers, aside from what is already available online or through your cardiologist? What are ways to make this transition as smooth as possible?

Thank you!

5 Comments

recovery

by Tracey_E - 2015-11-10 02:11:07

Some struggle more than others, but it's really not a big deal. How is her overall health now? If she is otherwise healthy, she should be feeling pretty good within a week or two.

Most of the members here are patients, not family, so I'm going to throw in my $0.02 patient perspective... It drives me nuts when my family hovers or babies me. Help is good, I understand and respect that they worry, but don't make me feel like an invalid because I'm not.

Practically, give her some help around the house the first week or two. She should be mobile after a day or two but we aren't supposed to lift or raise the arm above shoulder level. I struggled to do things like fold laundry and unload the dishwasher after. Another way to help is washing hair. Depending how they close the incision, she may or may not be able to shower right away. Even when we can shower, washing hair is tricky because we aren't supposed to raise the arm. My stylist did it for me, but I needed someone to drive me there.

Be careful what you read about things we need to avoid. Much of it is written by lawyers, not doctors, and it's a cya world. Don't arc weld, don't tour a power plant, don't go through the metal detector at the airport (3d scanner is ok). That's about it. Nothing around the house will affect it. Most of the time, I forget I have it.

Some people have trouble adjusting emotionally. If your mom is one of them, just be patient with her.

thank you so far!

by lychee12 - 2015-11-10 02:11:29

Thank you so much! You both covered so much and I appreciate it greatly.

She has a mitral valve and she Afibbed (?) last night, hence the doctor's suggestion for a pacemaker. Her heartbeat has been irregular in the past, but it has only become a major problem recently. Overall, she is very health lady and I hope there won't be too many setbacks.

I cannot imagine what she is going through right now. I never realized the emotional side of this and I see that my mom is going through that right now. Even though she understands the necessity of a PM, it is still new territory for her and she is upset about it. I do hope I am able to help her emotionally during this period of time. I know she will get through this as she always does with other things. I just hope I am doing the best I can and gathering as much information as needed.

Well ....

by Theknotguy - 2015-11-10 02:11:34

It's your Mom. So that can be a problem in and of itself. Unless, of course, she's one of the loving type parents.

As for being back on your feet in no time, that isn't always the case. We do have some who come out of the procedure sore and bruised. It just depends.

As for what you need to do ... I think the two most important things are 1) be an advocate for your Mom, 2) keep a positive attitude no matter what.

As for being an advocate, make sure you have meds info, insurance info, all that stuff. Tuck the sheets under the legs, make sure she gets a blanket to keep warm, take care of all the incidentals. Be courteous to the hospital staff. Listen to the doctor, and keep notes. It's all little stuff,

Next is to keep the positive mental attitude. The old phrase is to "take a helicopter to the ceiling". While everyone else is worried about the tiny details, you take the high road and make sure everything keeps moving along.

Post procedure, be aware your Mom may have pain and bruising. You'll want to be sure she takes her meds on time.

After that, help her though the 4-6 healing period. If she forgets and lifts her arm over her shoulder, that's OK, but she shouldn't make a habit of it. If she lifts more than 8-10 pounds with the same arm, just remind her she isn't supposed to do that. Have her keep the arm moving. Taking short walks is good exercise. Make sure she drinks water to keep hydrated.

Overall, sounds like she'll be in good hands. Hope everything goes well.

afib and the pacemaker

by Theknotguy - 2015-11-10 02:11:41

The pacemaker won't help with the afib. All the pacemaker does is to make sure the heart beats on time. When you have an abnormally fast heartbeat all the pacemaker does is watch. That doesn't sound encouraging but there are reasons for having the pacemaker.

I have afib too. I was getting a 24 hour session of afib about every three weeks. Sometimes I'd get a flutter as much as once a day. Not an easy way to live.

What they do for afib is to give you drugs to slow down the heart. But the problem can be the drugs that slow down the heart will work so well they cause the heart to stop. So you are in between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Don't take drugs and your heart spirals out of control and kills you. Take drugs and your heart stops.

There are several things they can do. Ablation is one but it can damage the heart. Rhythm control - which they didn't use for me. Another is rate control - which I have.

In rate control they give you drugs to slow the heart, then use the pacemaker to bring it up to speed. Not the best fix but better than the alternatives. It sounds like they're going for rate control for your Mom.

If she hasn't received her pacemaker yet, I'd ask if she can get the Medtronic model that has a software program called APP (Atrial Preference Pacing). APP can sense when you go into afib and take actions to mitigate it. I have it on my Medtronic pacemaker.

Post PM implant. The pacemaker is not a hindrance to my lifestyle. I can do everything I did before I got the pacemaker plus more because I feel better. It's not a hindrance, it's a help.

You can now ask several questions of the doctors. Are they planning on using rate control for your Mom's afib? Would the Medtronic and APP help with her afib?
What other course of action do they plan to take?

Hope everything goes well and she recovers quickly.

I'm going thru same with my mom

by McSher2 - 2016-04-27 12:04:50

She is getting PM Friday for bradycardia and AV block. How did it go for your mom? I'm so worried about how mine will handle the physical and emotional. She's been told it will be "no big deal" and I'm afraid if she has pain and discomfort she will become depressed and housebound. She has very high levels of anxiety.

You know you're wired when...

Your old device becomes a paper weight for your desk.

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Life does not stop with a pacemaker, even though it caught me off guard.