I am scheduled to get my PM on Wednesday and I am finding myself saying maybe it's not so bad I have my decent days heck my heart rate got as high as 60 yesterday I know that I have more low days than high, but maybe we shouldn't rush to hook some device up to my heart. After reading some of the posts on this site I'm just not sure if I'm going to feel better or worse.

Really I just want all of this over, the worring should I or shouldn't I. Please someone tell me I'm not the only one who feels she is going to go crazy before this is done.. My family just tells me to stop worrying, well it's not their heart that goes so low they pass out or their body is so weak from fatique or that they are going to hook this thing up to they all seem matter of fact about it.

 

 

I had my PM implanted on 28 July 1 month ago. I feel so good now! The hurt of the implant died away soon and the PM is keeping my heart very normal after a long time.

The operation was over in a flash and I went home the next morning and was riding my bike and walking in a week. The only thing I can not do after a month is raise my left arm over my head until 6 weeks.

I am taking it slow, but I thought the PM implant was much less pain than when I had my right shoulder clavicle separated in a bike accident and had it operated on and pinned for 3 months.

The first 2 days after the PM implant are the worst then you improve rapidly. I would not worry about the operation, thousands are done annually in the world without any complications. Let us just be thankful for modern technology and quality of life! Enjoy and look forward to your new life with a PM!

JEM 68 Years Young Myrtle Beach, SC

 

Its now been two months since my PM was implanted.
I have had similar expereinces of passing out, albeit in a
Italy; and having so little energy that I could barely move.

The day I scheduled my initial appointment with the Cardiologist, I could barely walk from the train, to get a
cab to his office. I sat in his office with almost no energy
praying I would be able to walk to the exam room.

Having said all that, the PM has made a world of difference. No more episodes of weakness, and fatigue
and no more fear of passing out.

I think that the psychological adjustment to now being
dependent on a machine to sustain basic functioning, rather than your own heart is the most difficult adjustment.
It is analogous to the grieving process as we have suffered a loss.

I was fortunate that the surgery went extremely well, and the recovery was fine. I was discharged from the hospital the next dayand I have had no complications from the surgery.

I would take comfort in the fact that the PM can restore
function to your life; and that in time it will blend in to your
normal routine. A small price to pay for regaining the ability to function, and return to a normal lfe.

While I am still struggling with the change, the PM was the right choice.

Best of luck!!!!

 

Glad to hear you are feeling better about things! I'm a huge believer that positive attitude helps us heal faster. I'd rather see your family blase than freaking out! Doesn't mean they're not worried about you, it means they're putting on a strong face for you.

If you are otherwise healthy and your hr is low, you will feel better! Low hr makes us tired and robs our organs of oxygen, getting our hr up to normal levels again fixes it. Some feel better than others and we're all different, but there's no reason to think you will not feel better.

Good luck!!!! Feel free to vent with us more if you feel the need. It'll be over and you'll be feeling good again before you know it.

 

Thanks again to everyone for your supportive words, I know that I am just being worried about nothing, but I can't help it. Today my boyfriend took a family friend and his brother inlaw fishing and it just so happens that the brother inlaw is a doctor who when returning home tried to set my mind at ease (maybe my boyfriend is listening) he understood all my symtoms and the lying awake for hours at night worried about everything, he listened to all my concerns and i do feel better I know that getting the PM will make me feel better and I will be back to my post Cabo self..

I'm not saying I'm not scared still, but I'm sure blessed to have this site and all of you to be here when I need you..... THANK YOU!!!!

 

You will be just fine.
The meds they will give you will make you feel like a hippie and oh so happy!
Listen to your family as for me it was better then getting a tooth pulled.

 

I will have a first PM for 4 wonderful weeks Tomorrow Sept. 1st and I felt very much the same way you do now. I was trying to justify why I could wait a while longer for a PM although I knew full well that I really did need to have this done. I was soo worried and afraid of how it would look, how I would feel (pain wise) after surgery and . . . . . . It was nothing close to what my mind had cause me to imagine!!!

I told the nurse I was extremely nervous about the whole procedure and afterwards, I felt better than I had felt in years!! Sure, I took one pain med but I was so elated with the feeling the surge of energy from the increased heart rate that I am still feeling great!

You might be a like I am in that I LOVE Pepsi (my favorite drink) but I tend to not like hospitals or medical procedures because my imagination runs away with me far too often. The members here were great and told me to relax and try not to sweat the implant procedure (darn near impossible to do) but they were right in that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I am a hospital chicken and get freaked out easily in hospital settings but the PM implant really has been my easiest procedure I've done yet ------ better than the emergency appendectomy, corrective leg surgery or having my tubes tied.

I will think of you tomorrow as I celebrate 4 fantastic weeks of life with a pacemaker and I will drink a Pepsi Throw Back to you and I both. I will toast to your good fortune to be a pacemaker patient and that you will be feeling just as great in 4 weeks and I am feeling now!

"Try" not to worry so much. God bless.

--- Gloria