I was awake 75-80% of the time of the ICD implant. read me

Well hello, I am larry age 26 and have just got the new hot model ICD from Metronic installed about 4 weeks ago. I am doing good and have stuck by the Docs note of not doing much with the arm at all. I will be starting back to walking with my MP3 player in the next few days.

The Surgery-

Well I am in the hospital room and the docs come in with a grin and tell me there is no anesthesiologist. Me never having surgery I was like that is cool and they walked out of the room. now my friends and girl friend were there and did not say anything. I go down to surgery and they put me on the table. They give me half of the bag of good stuff, but I can still hear the music and the people talking. One of the nurse's ask me if i was doing ok. I was like, oh yeah what about you. I then herd her say we better give him the rest cause he is not sleepy. I get the rest of the good stuff in the little bag and I am still up and talking with the doctors and nurses that were in the room. Now i did not feel the cut but i could then feel him putting the ICD in my chest and I was talking to the people and the doctor. i was also laughing for a bit when they shocked me twice. yes I could feel the shock and I also herd the doctor ask me could i feel that and i was yeah while i was laughing. so when I got down they were telling me that i was up and talking and laughing most of the time and only dozed off twice. i They thought is was crazy that i could hold a conversation while getting the ICD installed. Anybody else have this much fun

4 Comments

Hi......

by Bionic Beat - 2008-09-03 01:09:11

Yep, that Versed and Valium is a good mix!

I had conscious sedation for my PM implant, my angiogram and my ablation.

Snoozed through a lot of the PM implantation but they were talking to me and I could hear the surgeon asking for instruments and sutures, etc.

When she was pushing the leads down into my ticker, I was amazed at how hard she was pushing....you always think of your heart as being fragile.....not so!! lol

I chatted with the docs throughout the other procedures, except when I had to hold my breath...it was interesting to watch the dye flowing through my arteries.

The ablation was okay til the third burn, that one was starting to hurt, the doc said "we have 20 more seconds" and I knew it would soon be finished.

All in all, very intriguing.....amazing what they can do for us while we observe and chat along, isn't it?

Next stop.....brain surgery!! Joking....but you can chat through that also these days!

Glad you had a good time, someone else had quite a party recently during their op too!

Stay well and enjoy your new "friend".


Bionic Beat


i was half awake too

by curly - 2008-09-03 06:09:28

i was awake when they put the wires to test my heart. the doc put me asleep when they shocked my heart. but i woke up and the doc kept pushing on my chest for a couple of hours. my back is what hurt me the most ,lying on the table for 6 hours it is almost a year ago i had my implant of my icd. i was shocked twice in april. i was put on amiodarone then. so far so good with the meds. good luck with your icd i hope you do well
the name is curly

I had an absolute BLAST

by Angelie - 2008-09-03 12:09:35

During my pacemaker procedure on 8/14/08, we all had a blast. It was 8pm, and we laughed, joked, listened to my doc's IPod, and made Monty Python references. I have never had so much fun during an operation in my entire lifetime. The nurse just gave me, "a little bit of wine, versus say........a marguerita" I told him to just make it Merlot, and we'd all be fine. When they took all of the sterile drapes off from me, I said in my best English accent, "Ah, it's just a flesh wound!" After they rolled me back to my room that night, I felt as if I'd been to a party. The nurse that took me back to my room thanked me for the good time. I figured we all would have rather been some where other than that operating room. I thought since we couldn't be anywhere else, we might as well make the best of it. I knew this was a life changing moment for me, at 33 years old. I didn't want to sleep during the procedure. I wanted to remember everything.
Name's Angelie. Nice to meet cha. From South Ga.

Conscious for ~20%.

by bobad - 2008-09-19 11:09:59


I was conscious for a good bit of the procedure. I could remember chatting up the nurses, but can barely remember what we were saying. I do remember 1 tech saying it was unusual, and she usually knocks her patients out so cold they don't wake up until they are back in their room. I clearly recall the staple gun working, and took a peek. The pocket was half done, and I could see the doc poking his finger into the pocket.

Is this good, or bad? I think being awake for 5-10% of the procedure means that you got a minimal dosage of the meds, which is a good thing. Being awake 25-50% runs the risk of movement and maybe mental stress. Don't know if stress is possible on Versed! When I woke up fully conscious, I felt just fine, and mentally sharp. I think it's a miracle drug.

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My eight year old son had a pacemaker since he was 6 months old. He does very well, plays soccer, baseball, and rides his bike. I am so glad he is not ashamed of his pacemaker. He will proudly show his "battery" to anyone.