OK! So I've started swimming again, some 6 weeks after my procedure: Freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke. I'm holding off on the butterfly for another 2-3 weeks, after my follow-up visit at the hospital.
Bottom line: I've added at least 1 1/2 minutes on my 1,500 m freestyle, a 6% deterioration. It's quite discouraging. I don't think it has anything to do with my heart rate, my breathing or my stamina. My stroke feels awkward and my left bicep seems to tire more quickly.
I believe I may be feeling the impact of 6 weeks of inactivity. If so, I'll hopefully get it back with training.
Wish me luck.

 

 

I am not a swimmer, but I have some weakness in my left bicep as well. I found this out when I try to do some yoga poses. So I started doing more arm stretches (against doorway - arm presses, etc) and have started using exercise bands instead of weights to do bicep , tricep, and shoulder exercises and using 1-2 pound weights for deltoid/rotator strengtheners. It has been 2 weeks, but the strength is coming back. I don't want to push it or I may strain the muscle.

 

I was implanted 3 years ago, got out of hospital at 11 am on a Friday, had my wife drive me to a Wendy's restuarant I turned into a Enterprise car rental. And went back to work fulltime construction 1 week later, yes with arm in sling......Arm came out of sling and it took acouple of months, but I had full use of my left arm like nothing happened, then last Sept. I was defibrillated and fell on that shoulder and head (knocked out 2 posts and crowns), ever since then I've had left shoulder impingement, I cannot lift my left arm above my shoulder anymore, so the only fun I had was golf, and now I can't raise my left arm to swing a club.......bummer.........your shoulder and arm will be sore for awhile, but will get better......good luck.......

 

Hi. I'm glad you waited before getting back in the pool. There are some nasty bugs in all pool water no matter how strong they add the chlorine so there is always the risk that one of those microbes might get into the pacemaker wound and mess it up. You seem to be congratulating yourself on not doing the breast stroke yet but I think the overhead arm movement of the backstroke is more likely to pull on a newly implanted pacemaker lead so be careful ... a paper out in this months euro echo journal also talks about how just the presence of a pacing wire can increase tricuspid regurgitation and an increased exercising heart rate can add to this ... thus reducing right heart efficiency ... okay this might only be a small contribution to your drop in exercise capacity ... but there is some detraining too and also with that lump of metal in the shoulder area it has changed your biomechanics ... you won't be moving your arm exactly as you were before the pacemaker was put in ... you are re-learning a new arm movement too. lars, www.cardiacathletes.org

 

Thank you all for these comments. They are quite usefull. And Lars, I will check out that web site.
Édouard