Hello, I'm a Newbie

Hello, I'm Quianna or Key. On 7/26, my heart stopped 4 a.m. and my husband did cpr and revived me. One day after they installed my device, my 4th grand child was born. I was born with a heart murmur which became worst over time. I will say this was a situation that has changed my life forever. I'm 50 years old as of Feb this year  and recieved my CRT device on August 1st. Looking forward to reading, learning and sharing. I'm healing nicely but it is quite uncomfortable and sticks out. Is this normal?  I literally have to lay on my back to not really feel it.

3 Comments

Welcome!

by IrishToast - 2024-08-24 10:02:12

You're in the right place. Congratulations on your grandchild!  Give yourself six months to see what your new normal will be.  The procedure can be quite routine, quick and simple for the medical people, but it is far from so for most of us.  Swelling can take months to go down, your heart and vascular system can take months to settle down, and even your immune system took a hit.  There is a lot of help here in how to cope, and encouragement to hear it's going to get a lot better. Recovery milestones will come. You will get well soon.

Hi there key!

by Lavender - 2024-08-25 13:29:42

You have an inhouse hero as I do! When my heart had a 33 second pause, my bf pounded on me and restarted my heart! That led to a CRT-P pacemaker within days. That was three years ago. 
 

Congratulations on your 4th grandchild! They can surely make you smile!  You will be more comfortable in time. Be patient with yourself. Put ice where it hurts with a towel between your skin and the ice pack. Take tylenol if that's something you can tolerate well. Go slow and rest when you need to. Both your mind and body are healing from this news. 
 

Once I was cleared to do so, I had a therapeutic massage. I continue that. It's helped me relax and loosened up the neck and left arm. It took me seven months to feel 100% again. It was gradual. I was so tired. 
 

You are fixed. Your life has been saved. You have a lot to which to look forward. Welcome aboard!👍🏼🌸

middle toe

by dwelch - 2024-09-02 22:33:46

It becomes like a middle toe or belly button, you know you have it, you can see the scar, maybe see it stick out (yes at first that is normal, as my first doc said nature does not like sharp corners, so your body will smooth it out).  you will forget you have it unless you bump it into something.

give it time, the first few months, first the recovery from the procedure that  sucks, no way around it.  but only for a few weeks.  Then some visits, then you go into the one visit a year, aint no thing.   you get used to any changes it makes like how you feel or how you sleep,etc, but you get over that the first year and then that is your new norm. (if you even felt a change at all).

You know you're wired when...

Bad hair days can be blamed on your device shorting out.

Member Quotes

I just want to share about the quality of life after my pacemaker, and hopefully increase awareness that lifestyles do not have to be drastically modified just because we are pacemaker recipients.