My First Time

• by Nornor
• 2010-09-08 06:09:15
• ICDs
• 1763 views
• 3 comments

Hello to my pacemaker and defibrillator friends. Although I have been a pacemaker/defibrillator recipient for ten years, and now fitted with my third device, I have only been a member of this wonderful support group for a short time. To this point I have been an enthusiastic but passive reader of your stories, experiences, questions and responses. I now feel ready to contribute and be an active member.

My name is Neville and I am a sixty-four year old Australian guy from Mildura, 550kms (350 miles) from Melbourne in the state of Victoria. My cardiac history really commenced on a most dramatic evening in May, 2001, when I went into cardiac arrest on two occasions within thirty minutes. Fortunately, for me, my elder son, Andrew, an experienced intensive-care paramedic, and my daughter-in-law, an emergency ward nurse, were having dinner with my wife and me and, through Andrew’s wonderful CPR skills, were able to save my life before the ambulance crew arrived. I arrested once again and was externally defibrillated twice by Andrew and the paramedic crew before being transported to hospital. Following extensive testing, I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and very fast tachycardia. I was fitted with my first defibrillator/pacemaker and experienced my first ‘zapping’ two months later. My devices have subsequently fired on six other occasions, due to fast irregular heart beats. I had my first device changed over due to low battery in 2006. The next two years proved very difficult as my heart condition deteriorated to a heart failure condition with an EF below thirty. In 2008, I was fitted with my current CRT Pacemaker-Defibrillator (Medtronic ‘Concerto’), and almost immediately after coming out of the anaesthetic, felt an improvement. My EF is now functioning at just below 50 and I have been relieved of most of the breathlessness and the almost continuous uncomfortable arrhythmias, both of which had taken control of my life. I still experience arrhythmias and, at times, still feel vulnerable, particularly when alone. At other times I feel the need to have my wonderfully supportive wife, Jan, near by, due to some intuitive feeling that all is not as it should be. I believe that, over the years, I have come to know my heart and its rhythms quite well and respond accordingly. If I feel the need, then Jan calls the ambulance service for paramedic intervention. I don’t hesitate to seek qualified assistance and work on the basis that it is better to be sure than to be sorry. Having heard from my paramedic son, Andrew, of the many sad and tragic results of people not calling for emergency assistance, Jan and I place significant importance on responding quickly and decisively to cardiac events.

Not only was I incredibly lucky to have my life saved by own son in 2001 but, thankfully, have been continuously supported by my life-saving pacemaker-defibrillator which, by the way, I call ‘Andy’ after my son. I consider myself and all pacemaker-defibrillator recipients to be most fortunate to be able to have access to such incredible medical computerised technology. To those of you who question the need for an ICD, even after receiving a medical diagnosis, I say, please accept your medical practitioner’s advice. To those who have some anxiety about the operation, I say, the procedure is well worth the effort, the discomfort and the cost, if any. To those who worry about the small ‘bump’ in the upper chest, please remember that it is far more important to be alive than having some concern about ‘how it looks’!

I find it quite fascinating to read fellow club members’ comments and experiences and note the many differences in medical practitioners’ titles and medical terminology between the United States, the UK and Australia. The club web-site, therefore, is not only a support for pacemaker-defibrillator recipients but, also, a wonderful forum from which we can learn so much from each other.

I am also a severely hearing-impaired person who is fitted with bi-lateral cochlear implants, so I can claim further reliance on technology and ‘bionics’. I would be interested to know if there are any other pacemaker-defibrillator recipients who are also cochlear implantees out there.