Oh boy....

The last few months have been interesting. I used to take my 4yr old son and walk all over town. We'd be out for HOURS walking and checking things out. Then, back in Sept '10, I started having a REAL difficult time breathing. Went to the hospital and was sent to the big hospital. When I got there, I was told I was having Congestive Heart Failure. A month later I had a double bypass. While I was in the hospital in October, I asked my cardiac surgeon if I had a heart attack and he said there were signs that I did have one. I remember when I had it. It was back in August. Blew it off and chalked it up to something I had just ate...nope! Not smart! I went to the doc in December for a cold. He wanted to check my lungs out, since I also told him I had difficulty breathing sometimes. Went to the hospital and was then sent to the big hospital again. When I got there, I was told I had a low heart beat. It was around 39bpm. So, I had a pacemaker put in last month. Supposed to go back to work in 2 weeks. It's been a fun few months!

4 Comments

Reply to "tomorrow"

by tony_s_fan - 2011-01-17 11:01:47

It'll go fine! Before I had a bypass, I had a 20%-25% capacity from my heart. The only thing that could fix that was the bypass. I'm sure you'll feel MUCH better!

--Rick

tomorrow

by dutch2412 - 2011-01-17 12:01:28

getting a pacemaker tomorrow. will let all of you know how it goes. my heart is at 15 % so hopefully there will be an improvement, thx, frans.

Im a Smoke Fan to

by walkerd - 2011-01-18 07:01:04

Im glad everything worked out for you Rick. I had almost a similar story as yours mine didnt work out as good as yours but Im still here typing. Good luck dutch on your procedure.

dave

Smoke rules...

by tony_s_fan - 2011-01-20 10:01:56

Oh, I have a story to tell about my pacemaker installation, but I didn't want to relate it before Dutch had his done. When I went in to the OR, I laid down on the table. Then, the nurses placed paper on me, around the area where the procedure was to be done, to confine the area. That paper covered my face some. Then, they put more paper or cloth above my head to isolate the area more. THEN, they put the oxygen mask on me. I'm not claustrophobic, but this REALLY freaked me out. I started getting "upset". As soon as I was doing this, I went to sleep. :) Wonder how THAT happened! :) When it was over, I was woken up by the pain of the stitches being sewn in. I moved around to try to let them know I was in pain with each poke of the needle. I couldn't speak, so I was trying to use body language to inform them. Didn't work. Was SOOOOOO glad to get the final stitch in! That HURT! Other than that, it went fine. :) I was more nervous about getting the pacemaker in than I was having the double bypass done...I may have said that in my original post. :)

You know you're wired when...

You have rhythm.

Member Quotes

I'm 35 and got my pacemaker a little over a year ago. It definitely is not a burden to me. In fact, I have more energy (which my husband enjoys), can do more things with my kids and have weight because of having the energy.