New to the game

Hi all.

Just got fitted with a pacemaker last Friday after crashing my car after blacking out. Second episode in the emergency room gave doctors all the info they needed and I got my pacemaker the next morning. A bit scared. A bit worried about what to expect in life now. I am a 53 year old, very active woman who rides horses and is an avid vegetable gardener. Worried that I won't be able to do these thing anymore. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Mel

4 Comments

don't worry

by DC Pacer - 2009-08-01 11:08:20

Odds are in your favor that you will resume activities that you enjoy. Don't let the fear of a pacemaker take control of you. It is easier said than done but many of us have felt the way you feel now!

????

by pete - 2009-08-02 03:08:15

What happened to you that is crashing your car after blackout happened to a friend of mine. He was also towing a caravan . Both he and his wife ended up in hospital. The crash blocked the motorway. The hospital knew he had a problem with a slow running heart. He was after this terrifying episode given a pacemaker after his wife screamed blue murder at our health service here in the UK. The health service knew damned well he needed a pacemaker and the failure to fit one could have caused the death of him and his wife and many others. Fortunately only he and his wife were injured.He has had a replacement after about 9 years. He is not disadvantaged in any way and leads a normal life. He has been walking in the Himalayas at high altitude with no problems. I do not think you have anything to worry about and you can look forward to a normal lifespan. Cheers Peter

Hi Mel

by Hot Heart - 2009-08-03 08:08:22

I did just comment on another of your posts somewhere, I'm 56, 55 started pacing, think i was a candidate like yourself, could have collapsed at any time. I thought i was fit healthy, gym goer, dancer etc. but............wham bam! pm in!!!!

Anyways! 10 months on i can do everything i did before, just been to london for weekend with my daughter, walked miles, did what seemed like hundreds of tubes, stairs up, stairs down, you know! lol. Walked for hours, shopped till both of us nearly dropped, did a trade fair, went to a show, ate in leicester square at midnight, up early next morning. What i'm trying to say here is, just go for it, enjoy life, just dont do anything silly that might damage your pm or pull out your wires.

Best wishes HH

The levels of Pacemaker acceptance

by COBradyBunch - 2009-08-05 08:08:11

I am 50, luckily didn't crash my car first but sounds like we have a lot of the same story behind us. Before my pacemaker implant I was a physically active 50 year old who besides needing to lose a few pounds was in good shape and had just had a full physical where I came out with my doc telling me he wished most of his 40 year old patients were in as good shape as I was. Well then, out I went for the 2nd time in three months, spent the night in the hospital at docs advise when for the 2nd time they could find NOTHING wrong with me in the ER. Well, not long after I was in my room and dozing off to sleep I suddenly had an entire crash crew and cart in my room because my heart had stopped and then restarted itself.

Anyway, I literally went through what I have to call a grieving process but now that I have been cleared to do things again and just had a stress test to make sure they didn't miss anything I am finally figuring out that my little borg implant is not as bad as I had originally feared. This site helped tremendously, as did talking with a lot of other people with conditions similar to ours. Why did it happen to us? Who the heck knows but we could have a lot worse conditions. I have my pacer so I can drive, ride my bike, walk down stairs and not have to worry about blacking out in the middle of any of those. I am HEALTHY, I am HAPPY and most of all I an NOT going to let this get me down. I am back to exercising, getting back into doing the things I was before this happened (and some things that I had not been doing because I thought other things were more important but now I remember how much I loved and missed doing them) and basically getting back to my life.

Let yourself go through the stages, don't fight them and know that when it is all over, after the grief, denial, depression and all the rest you will come out the other end knowing that this is a little bump in the road (or your chest) and life goes on and can be even better. Oh, I am 6 weeks after surgery, working out daily and have set goals and are working towards them. Feel great and people are even saying that I look great, better than I have in months.

You know you're wired when...

You trust technology more than your heart.

Member Quotes

I had a pacemaker since 2002 and ever since then my life has been a total blessing.