shock

• by Shocked1
• 2018-02-03 12:29:49
• Complications
• 1361 views
• 3 comments

Hello, I just discovered this site when I started to research pacemakers in the hopes of getting an answer to a situation that occurred this morning.  My husband was "pushing snow" (I know, I know, but he found the key while I was sleeping and escaped) and he said he felt like a bolt of lightning hit him so hard he almost fell over. He stood there a minute and then he was all right. I am wondering if this was from the pacemaker/defibrilator. He is almost 81, and in 2016, went into the ER and ended up at the heart center because he was in extreme heart and kidney failure and had severe bronchitis. They said the kidney failure was because of the weak heart and he needed a new valve, He is not a candidate for open heart --he did have it 22 years ago-- but TAVR was an option.They said that his heart was barely beating before he came in, and that the pacemaker was what kept him alive. His kidneys were so bad that the dye would ruin them. Our wonderful cartiologist didn't want that to happen so he did the first part of the TAVR using the less destirable route (saving the better route for the implant) and sent him to a nursing home for as long as they dared with instructions that at the slightest indication, he was to go right to the hospital.  The cardiologist was relieved to see that he made it and they did the TAVR, but his heart stopped and had to be shocked. His kidneys had improved enough with the increased blood flow from the first part of the TAVR (clearing out the valve) that they were able to handle the dye.  He went back to a nursing home until just before Christmas, but two months after he came home, he got sepsis from dental work and was back in care for 7 weeks, came home and two days later was back because infection was rampant again.  I had him moved back to the heart unti and they cleared it up in about two months, so essentially he was borderline from October to June.  In December, the doctor was delighted because his heart showed improvement. He owes his life to the pacemaker and the wonderful care he received. My question here is whether a pacemaker/defibrillator will ever give such a strong shock to feel like being hit by lightning.  He has had no such experiences or problems wtith the pacemaker since it was put in 3-4 years ago, and its function was recently checked.