Just joined

Hello all, 

My name is Ed and I had a Medtronic pacemaker implanted 3 weeks ago.  I just turned 62 and had otherwise been healthy.  I had a stent put in during January and on my first day of Cardiac rehab I had fainted and then had a pacemaker put in!  Fun times. 

I am coming up on my first check on the device with cardiologist.  Hope it goes well.  I am still adjusting to my new friend.  I have found a lot of comfort in reading the posts in the various forums.  Much of what I feel, both physically and emotionally a lot of people have and are going through.  That has eased my stress very much.  Thank you everyone for being here. 

 

Ed

4 Comments

Welcome

by Penguin - 2023-03-12 16:14:18

Hi Ed and Welcome! 

Sorry to hear about your roller coaster entry to the pacemaker community. Quite a bit to go through for you!  You must have felt like one thing after another was going wrong.  Disconcerting !

The physical and emotional issues can be difficult to navigate when just 3 weeks in. Here if you need to offload!

Best Wishes

 

Hey there Ed

by Lavender - 2023-03-12 16:27:38

Welcome to our exclusive club-lol-your pacemaker is your entry card. 😘

Nobody is wanting to join. It's usually a surprise invitation via fainting or some other wiring shortage.  We all come in not really sure what's next. In time, we adapt. It's nice having folks here ahead of you on the mountain reaching a hand down to grab yours and give you a boost. 
 

The device check is interesting and somewhat roller coaster like as well. I felt a bit like a robot being controlled by the tech turning the dials. It's very brief. They make the heart go a bit faster then let it go a bit slower and before you know it, you're outta there. If there's anything you're feeling now, like symptoms you notice-let them know. There are adjustments that can be made. Hopefully you are moving your arm on the pacemaker side, just not raising the elbow above the shoulder.  Your wound will heal completely in time, swelling goes down and the scar gets much less visible. 
 

Glad to know you have a new buddy in there keeping you keeping on❤️‍🩹

I hope you continue with the rehab

by Persephone - 2023-03-12 17:41:34

I know you were were blindsided by this whole PM thing, but I hope your medical team will continue to provide and encourage the cardiac rehab when the time is right for you. It's important. Best wishes to you

Lavender

by piglet22 - 2023-03-13 08:27:48

I would have to agree with the "controlled" aspect.

It does seem very strange to have one of your most fundamental functions controlled by a small box of electronics, then have someone else take control over it's functioning.

You have to look at it as a blessing that something can be done to give you a much improved way of life to what people would have had 100 years or more ago.

The heart is ideally suited to correction of defects by electrical means.

The electrical activity of the heart is well understood, by the experts at least, and when it goes wrong, this little box of very clever tricks can take over.

I program devices similar to those used in PMs and when you get to the point of having to have a PM, it's not just the cardiac surgeons involved, it's the PM manufacturers, the circuit designers and most important of all, the people who write the programs or the code, that lets the PM receive signals, interpret them, then output signals to your heart.

An average microcontroller or microprocessor like those in a PM, will be carrying out millions of instructions every second, writing and reading to its memory and then is capable of sending this information to the cardiac team.

Really impressive stuff.

You know you're wired when...

You have the perfect reason to show off your chest.

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