holding me back!

I'm a female soldier in the Australian Army, and I love it. The problem I have is in July of last year I collapsed and after exhaustive tests, was found to have Mobitz2, with possible Mobitz3, and bradychardia, which the specialists believed led to my collapses and which could be fixed with a pacemaker. September it went in(deep under my muscle) and I haven't had an incident since. I train just as hard, if not harder, than ever. I have never failed a fitness test,infact I am told I give the younger members a run for their money! My problem is, no-one seems to know enough about pacemakers to let me just get on with my job. I want to be a PTI ( Physical Training Instructor), but not one superior wants to be the one to sign off on my request. and as the cardiologist doesn't understand our training, he is reluctant too. At the end of the day, I am the first ever member to have a pacemaker, and I think they would all just love me to just 'fade away'. but I'm damned if I am going to quit the job i love because of a piece of metal in my chest.I need to show them that we can be more than capable, fit, functioning people.

1 Comments

Wow!

by herbie - 2007-04-03 11:04:59

I'm afraid I don't know much about the forces to be able to comment specifically on the issues you face.

I do, however, know that there are lots of people who struggle to regain fitness after a pacemaker implantation (myself included) and you sound like an inspiration to us all! The fact that you are so determined and that you have been able to train harder than before shows that you are a credit to the forces - I truly hope you achieve your goal.

Please keep us posted, I'd certainly like to hear the outcome.

Hannah

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Member Quotes

In fact after the final "tweaks" of my pacemaker programming at the one year check up it is working so well that I forget I have it.