Pacemaker Check Today

• by Pookie
• 2009-10-09 03:10:06
• General Posting
• 938 views
• 3 comments

Hi Everyone.

Well, I had my pacer checked today and as usual got the line "your pacemaker is working fine". However, I'm not feeling fine and both the tech & cardiologist noticed how awful I looked. I told them I've been experiencing shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, can't stop sleeping, palpitations, etc.

I'm due to have a stress test next week as my EP wants to see my "heart in action". Today the cardiologist tried to find a Holter for me, but could not. At least he tried and now my name is put on an urgent list, worst case is I have to wait until November 2. I just pray that a Holter becomes available sooner. I know it's not that far away, but when you feel so bad, those 3 weeks feel like forever.

I asked this cardiologist (who happens to be my Mom's doctor) about getting the Holter and why the EP wants to change my pacer from bipolar to unipolar; he said it is because when the pacer is changed to unipolar they can see the "spikes" more easily. He also told me that years ago the old pacemakers were all unipolar and that yes, I might feel some weird sensations. It all boils down to: am I in Junctional Rhythm or is it the pacemaker....that's the way I understood it. At least the "professionals" can see that there is something going on with my heart this time and that is it NOT all in my head.

So, now I wait. However, if these feelings I'm having get any worse I will be going to the ER as it's taking such a toll on me and my hubby. We're starting to lose hope which is understandable as I've been going thru pacemaker issues for almost 5 yrs now. It's putting a lot of stress on both of us; keeping in mind that I have other medical isssues. 5 yrs is a long time to feel miserable and I'm not able to do a lot of things we once did together. But somehow we'll survive. We had a long & tearful chat about it last night, he's not going to leave me or anything crazy like that but his main issue is that he has no one to talk to about how he feels and what my situation has put him through all of these years. He's spoken to counsellors, but the way he looks at it is: he can talk up a storm but at the end of the day I'm still in the same boat so until I'm "fixed" we have to deal with it the best we can. That is the part I HATE the most; what MY situation is doing to him. But he loves me and isn't going anywheres ... thank gawd.

Oh, and I only had one episode on May 11 of atrial tachycardia where my heart was beating at 180 for 5 seconds. I looked in my calendar....and sure enough I had actually written a note to myself. My pacer doesn't record anything until its over 150 beats per minute. Not bad for 5 years, eh?

One more thing: Frank& Smitty: they checked back over all my records looking at the Impedance and it has not changed enough for them to be concerned. So, hopefully, this means that my leads are in tact. My ventricle lead requires a lot of "juice" to beat, but I use it less than 1% so they left it alone. And today's report says I have 5.5 - 8 yrs left with this pacer. I forgot to ask what % I'm pacing, but will get to see that when the pacer clinic sends a letter to my family doctor.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to all the Canadian out there!

gobble, gobble
Pookie