Life with a Pacemaker

living with a pacer

by Tracey_E - 2017-10-23 16:34:24

You are young to be paced, yes, but you are too young to feel old because your heart isn't beating correctly. Think of the pacer as your key to getting your life back. I've had one since my 20's, I'm 51 now, no complications, no regrets. 

Restrictions- we need to avoid big magnets. Unless you get one that's mri-compliant, we can't easily have an mri. The only thing in the home we should avoid is those scales that calculate body fat, anything else is ok- tablets, cell phones, computers, routers, game systems. TENS are a bad idea. That's about it, anything else goes. 

Sports- I do Crossfit with no limitations. Full contact sports are not recommended but there are ways around it. You can ask to have it under the pectoral, or a little lower and deeper than the  usual placement so it's out of the way. 

Drinking- yes, please :oP  My cardio is ok with me drinking in moderation, even said a glass of wine a day is healthy. I've been paced a lot of years, have overindulged a few times in those years, nothing  happened except the usual hangover.

With heart block, we don't have any specific restrictions on diet and lifestyle, however it's just common sense to take care of ourselves. We have wonky electrical systems so we want to keep our arteries clear and our muscles strong to reduce the chances of complicating things. I eat well more often than not. I exercise 5 days a week. I don't go crazy and I'm not super strict but I've spent a lot of hours in cardilogists offices over the years so I'm always hyper aware of the effect our choices make on our future. Half the people in those waiting rooms are there because of life choices, I won't be one of them.  

Rejection- VERY very rare. They are made of titanium which is highly allergy friendly. 

My best suggestion isgo into it with a positive attitude, it will make a huge difference in how quickly you recover. Know that for some people the emotional healing is as hard as or harder than the physical so don't be blindsided if you have days where you get down. It's ok to have a bad day, or a bad week, but then we suck it up and remind ourselves how tough we are, how blessed we are to have a condition with a fix. This is a tool to give us our lives back, don't give it more power than that. 

This was my reply a couple of days ago when someone asked me how I feel being paced....

How do I feel with the pm? Fabulous. Seriously, really amazing. I'm congenital but they didn't pace kids in the 70's unless it was life and death so growing up I had limited stamina, wasn't allowed to play sports, etc. Dizzy spells were a way of life. My rate dropped off and was 21 when I was admitted for surgery. I could literally feel it the minute I woke up in recovery, was like mainlining coffee. I got in trouble that night with the nurses for pacing the halls but I needed to MOVE. The day I was cleared for activity, I stopped on the way home and bought rollerblades and a tennis racket. I joined a gym. I had two babies (out of the question before I was paced). My kids are in college now, my heart even survived teaching them to drive. I  meet up with my oldest to do races and we do Crossfit together when she's home. We did our first 5k to celebrate my 20th anniversary of pacing. I created a monster and now we are doing our second half in December for her 21st birthday. My youngest was home on fall break last week, we went ziplining and kayaking and spent a day at Disney doing coasters. There is nothing I want to do that I cannot. They moved my device last year (#5) and now the scar shows in my gym tanks. Every once in a while someone will ask what it is, the look on their face when I tell them cracks me up. No one looks at me and sees a heart patient.

LIVING WITH A PACER

by ferryb - 2017-10-28 08:57:09

Thank you Tracey-E for your really inspiring story. I had a CRT-D implanted 12 okt.2017. my age is 75 and alive and kicking. I hope I can tell the same story to my grand children in a year of 15. Thanks again.