checking pm

hi everyone ....its me sounding stupid again but am i suppose to have a machine at home to check my pm with a landline last time i was at doc they talk about it but i still havnt heard anything from anyone or am i supposed to call an order it still new an only had my pm for 2 month i feel good today thank god it s friday oh if anyone lives in new jersey button down the hatch here comes the snow storm an it right on time accu weather your the bomb auh! Patsy

3 Comments

PM Clinic Visit ~ ~

by Carolyn65 - 2010-02-05 09:02:28

At my three month PM check in early January, I was handed a small box and was told by the woman who put the lil' round thingee over my "energizer bunny" & stared at the computer, that I would do my next check at home using this small box. She said there would be nothing to it (yeah, right). She said inside were two "bracelet" type things to put on each arm and to place my land line phone on the phone rest in the box. A phone call from the PM Clinic would call on a scheduled date/time and record/check. She did not say what to do with the box/bracelets when thru.

I hope your doc can be a lil' more "explaining", answer any questions and reassure you than my high dollar Heart Hospital of Austin PM Clinic.

I whine in Texas because it has been cold/wet for months (need/love the rain). Temp. is about 20 degrees lower for us than normal. In the 30's at night & 40/50's in the day. Whoa, the NE States are in for it!

Take care. Let us know ~ Carolyn G. in TEXAS ( :

Questions

by SMITTY - 2010-02-06 01:02:17


Hi Patsy,

If you are sounding stupid then you have lots of company because you sound just like most of us did when we first got our pacemaker. I know I was asking questions that I thought showed my ignorance only to find out most of my questions had been asked by other before my time.

As for how often a pacemaker should be checked varies almost from doctor to doctor. I have read some articles that plainly state the pacemaker should be checked at least every six months. Then I have seen some of our members say theirs is checked once a year, or every three months, two months and I saw one thatr gets a checkup every month. So I'm sure it depends on the doctor and why we got a pacemaker.

I was given one of the devices to at my three months check up and alternate between an office checkup and a telephone checkup every three months. I think the patient should receive the device from the doctor so that its use can be demonstrated. Other wise you can turn a 10 minute PM checkup by phone into a 30 minute checkup because you will have to redo some things so many times. I don't know if they are all like mine or not, but I have to stick on two electrodes and they then get a 1 minute check up of my heart rhythm. After that I place a magnet over the pacemaker for two to 5 minutes. Sometimes getting the magnet in the right place is difficult and I don't know why. I know where the pacemaker is located and it seems simple enough to put the magnet over it but they will keep buzzing me to relocate the magnet.

One thing I did learn is while they can down load lots of data over the phone they cannot, or they are not allowed to, make any changes in the settings. There have been times that would have been convenient for me, but no go.

Now throw away that dunce cap because you are not dumb or stupid for asking questions about your pacemaker.

Good luck,

Smitty

checking pacemaker

by thomast - 2010-02-06 09:02:21

When i got my new medtronic PM in May of 09, I received a new box by mail in about a month. With this box I just have to plug it into a landline and Ac power and have it iwithin 10 feet of where I sleep. They say they will read it out every 3 months at about 4;00 AM and I will never know about it.With the box I had before I had to place the coil over my unit and push a button on the box to start the readout,

Thomas

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker receives radio frequencies.

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