BATTERY LOW

I had an appointment at my local hospital for a usual check up. This was given to me 6 weeks later than it should have. At the previous check up they said as the battery was running down they would be calling me in every 12 weeks. In the event it was 18 weeks. For the first time at that appointment the magic "wand" they put over the site refused to recognise that there was a pacemaker in situ to detect. Another technician was called and between them the manually forced the computer to talk to it. All OK ?
I took it as a sign the battery was getting quite low. I am 100% dependant on it as I have an AV node ablation. The gas guage showed that it was very close to elective replacement mode. They put me down on the hospitals replacement list and gave me an actual appointment in 8 weeks time to the day.
What do you think? I will be giving more info in 7 weeks time. Watch this space. Peter.

3 Comments

timing

by Tracey_E - 2014-05-08 01:05:16

The problems they had picking it up today have nothing to do with the battery going down. It will remain fully functional right on through approx 3 months of elective replacement mode. At the end of ERI, it goes EOL (end of life), which is when you'll feel the difference. If you aren't quite ERI yet, 8 weeks from now is good. Not rushing into it, not waiting until you risk EOL.

btw, EOL is safe, but for those of us who pace every beat,it feels awful becasuse it paces at a steady rate rather than being responsive.

Tracey
been through this part 4 times now, never been EOL

Safety

by Marty - 2014-05-08 03:05:07

Hard to add much to such a great answer from Tracey, but I've been down this road five times now and only want to add a bit of reassurance. It can be quite scary to think your device that's either supporting your life directly, (pm dependent) or even if you're someone who is still blessed with sufficient native pacing that the device is augmenting or working in "on demand" mode.

I am paced 100% of the time now with a CRT-D, and when they told me in February that my battery was prematurely low, I suddenly got real interested in all the acronyms Tracey shared! :) ERI and EOL are important to understand, as each device maker provides warranty relative to these battery events. Medtronic guarantees the battery in my device for 45 days after ERI, and it's not uncommon that the battery would perform well past that 45 days.

So what I'm telling you is not to worry too much about them not being able to communicate easily with your device, and to realize that as long as those dates for ERI and EOL are known to you and your provider, you're on top of it and don't need to worry about your battery suddenly not working.

All the best.

Marty

Careful!

by Marty - 2014-05-09 12:05:52

Wow, you're not sure if you're at ERI or EOL? And you may allow your CRT-D battery to go completely dead? I hope that's not the case, even though I know how it feels. You only get a CRT-D if you meet specific criteria, and those criteria mean you truly need the device. This isn't something you can trust how you're feeling to make important decisions. I hope you're able to get a new one real soon. An ounce of prevention...

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