update & Info

This is Tammy's Mom posting for Tammy...she's dictating to me. The EP was in earlier this afternoon. No infection in the blood. Counts look good and Echo showed no infection around the heart. She is experiencing lots of spasms, nausea, and pain.

The Dr. wants to put a Meditronic pacemaker in instead of a St. Jude pacemaker like I've had in the past. She is fearful of this because the batteries don't last as long. By having the Meditronic she would need to have surgeries more often and with having MRSA now the risks of getting it again are high. She will have to have prolonged antibiotic treatments prior to any procedures. Would appreciate any opinions about this. Thanks.

3 Comments

mom

by jessie - 2010-02-21 08:02:50

i would demand the reasoning for the medtronic? surely there are other choices that las tlonger..i had mine in 2006 and i have eight more years left they told me last summer..i don't understand...do st. jude last longer than say 14 years?if you are paying you are saying mom god bless jessie hi tammy girl

God Bless Tammy ~ ~

by Carolyn65 - 2010-02-21 09:02:58

OMGosh, it is so great Tammy does not have any infections around her heart nor in her blood. She is so brave. Thank goodness for a Mom like you.

Some of the more experienced and educated PM members wil give you some great "comments" on this as soon as they read your "post", I am sure.

Hang in there Tammy. We all love you and are praying for you. Let us know how well you are doing ~

Take Care, Carolyn G. in TEXAS ( :

PM Choice

by donb - 2010-02-22 06:02:58

Hi Tammy! Guess you were almost on your way to ICU as I private messaged about how serious this MRSA infectiion can be. I was relieved to here that they put you on the good stuff and doing better.

I've had 3 Medtronic PMs' in 17 years which were top of the line and got a little over 5 years on each depending my usage. My last one eroded and only got 2 years. I didn't have a choice on that replacement as our hospital made that choice of going to St Jude.

Now, after my Cardiac Cath last week I heard rumblings amongst the nurses that the hospital plans on going back to Medtronic again. Personally I don't think that there's a big differance in performance or battery life between Brands. With batteries there's no such thing as a free lunch. If your PM is programmed with all the bells and whistles turned on and your heart condition is using these options, battery life would be less.

I also learned last year without my PM for 2 months that my resting HR didn't fall below 60 until the 2 months passed and then I had the St. Jude PM, leads & right chest implant. Again, I don't expect too many changes as I'm 78 but also using my PM more. On the good mood, I've been very fortunate and beat most hospital bugs as they really put me on lots of antbiotics with each surgery. Did get the popular C-Diff in my gut, so one can't always win.
Hope your old site cleans up and get infection under control for your new Titanium partner!!! Prayers are with you!!! donb

You know you're wired when...

You play MP3 files on your pacer.

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