Pacercheck

Hello fellow pacers!
Boy oh boy, do I have some good news to share. Today was my interrogation of my St. Jude Dual pacemaker. Seems the battery was running low prematurely. The new EP greeted me and I was awe struck! 6'4" and handsome! he he... ok, ok... I'm being serious now.
He asked a ton of questions and then he began to work. He actually lowered the rate response to like 20 to see how my heart would react. I felt very weird.... and then an amazing thing happened. My own heart began to beat very strongly on it's own! A nice regular heartbeat! I felt great! He printed it out and held it up so I could see. He then did some test on the lower chamber because I suffer from heart block and it seems that I now use the PM only 20%. 50% in the upper chamber and 20% in the lower. He set the PM to have a nice safety margin and said to be aware of how I was feeling. To call if I begin to feel weird, tired or anything out of the "normal" for me.
To conserve the PM energy and make it last longer the settings were changed. I feel really good now and the PM life expectancy in now 18 months instead of 6 months. Yea! So I am hoping and praying that I continue to become healthier and stronger. My heart appears to be healing it's self. "Odd" is what he said, but not unheard of. "Cool" is what I said in response.
So wish me luck, my goal is to become PM free! Chip said it is possible, especially since I am halfway there already. I started out being paced at 95% last year!
Peace to all, blessings
Pacergirl

P.S.
To all you fellow Pacer Chicks "Chip" the EP is very pacer chick friendly... and I was being serious... cute, cute, cute!

7 Comments

Wonderful news.....

by maryanne - 2009-03-19 01:03:25

It's so nice to hear positive news about our dear PM buddies....The doc's have tried many different settings for me...but I like you am optimistic that maybe just maybe one day I would be PM free.

They want me to wear a holter monitor and go for a run and find out how my PM reacts to the change or responds to the change...and then fine tune some of my settings...I want whatever will either extend the life of my PM and better yet...be in your boat and maybe one day be free of it!!! After 24 years something is telling me not...but one can always hope....

Thanks for the great news...and all the best to you...

Mary Anne

Alternative pacemaker

by ElectricFrank - 2009-03-19 01:03:31

You aren't pacemaker free, you just converted to the new 6'4" and handsome model. No wonder your heart is beating on its own so well. Just be careful..you could overdose on him and develop VTach.

cheers,

frank

That's my goal........

by Angelie - 2009-03-19 02:03:58

I'm headed for an ablation pretty soon, and hopefully I won't need the pacer either.
They'll kick us out of this club, Pacergirl. LOL!

We can join the exclusive "graduate- been there done with that" club

Great to hear your news. Gives hope for folks like me. Thanks. Maybe if this darn ablation goes well, I'll be right behind ya.

How'd you guess.......

by Angelie - 2009-03-19 05:03:37

It's the dress code. Can't attend the ceremonies without proper attire.
I've got the pale yellow one with snaps on the arms, and how come they don't make these things a smaller size? If I tie the string....there's enough room for two people in here...........wanna dance?

I am looking for a date cha know,
LOL!

awesome!

by Tracey_E - 2009-03-19 06:03:40

Hey, if he's that hot do you really WANT to be pm free!? How awesome that you're using it less and feeling great and making the battery last longer.

My check last week I found out my 18 mos I thought is more like 6 mos. Maybe you stole my extra 12 mos? LOL (my bad lead is worse)

Thank you all

by pacergirl - 2009-03-19 09:03:43

I want to say thank you all for your wonderful messages!

Frank, today was my first day back at work with less PM activity. The day went well, but I'm feeling a little tired tonight. Peter Nash warned me not to over do it and I tried really hard not too, but I'm tired tonight. I am trying to adjust and not call the doc.

I'm going to be wearing the diamond print gown with the ties in the back...and I may wear it backwards as a fashion statement! he he

Thank you all... for all your well wishes. Bunnykin, may you feel stronger very soon! I miss you! Angelie, I'm praying your ablation goes well. Patch, I did leave Chip at the office, but if I continue to feel less than good... I guess I will have to just go see him again... darn the luck! he he Mary Anne, never ever loose hope, it can happen. =) Tracy, I hope your new leads get better mileage!

You guys are great!~ Pacergirl

Well done!

by bunnykin - 2009-03-19 12:03:16

So glad to hear your good outcome of PM check. I wish I have the same to report though...anyway, need some help here. I'm 99.7% paced in lower chambers. However since you mentioned that last year you were still paced 95% with heart block, there's apparently some hope for others too. I'd like to know if you're on any antiarrhythmic meds. and did you do anything to assist in the heart working on its own again to reduce the use of the PM to help pace the ventricles?
I'd be happy if my ventr. can do some of its own beating and that would make me feel safer as I've a lead on recall, so if anything goes wrong, my lower chamber will not fail me immediately. Thanks for any input if you can. bunnykin.



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The experience of having a couple of lengths of wire fed into your heart muscle and an electronic 'box' tucked under the skin is not an insignificant event, but you will survive.