Pacemaker

This a medical description of the effect of a pacemaker on my health as an apology to my writing group for not making the next meeting. An informational piece:

Pacemaker -

Sorry, I can’t make the group meeting this Thursday as last Thursday I got a pacemaker implanted and they won’t let me drive for a while.

They tucked the pacemaker, about the size of half a yoyo, under my skin under my left collarbone. A wire (yes, this is a one wire unit; there are two and three wire units as well) was run through a vein into the right atrium of my heart, through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. The end of the wire was threaded and so it was rotated to screw in into the muscle wall of the heart. The 3.5 volt battery in the pacemaker sends a signal through the wire to pulse the heart every second. That produces a heart rate of 60 beats a minute. As I had a slow heart rate (44 bpm average – called bradycardia) stepping it up to 60 bpm makes a huge difference. Imagine 50% more oxygenated blood circulating through joints, intestines, muscles, the brain and think what that would mean in energy. You go into the operation feeling one way and come out at a totally different level. It is like an instant cure.

In the afternoon after the operation the representative from St. Jude (one of the four suppliers of pacemakers) came with his PC to check the unit out. A long wire led from the PC to a sponge rubber covered receptor he put over the place where the pacemaker was implanted. Then he could monitor the unit and even change the programming. “I am going to change your heart rate now.” He said. As incorrect cardiac pacing was the cause for my heart stopping in an earlier operation this was a little disturbing, but I just felt it roll and then he restored it. He measured the amount of voltage necessary to make my heart beat. My heart having been at 44 bpm for so long needed the full 3.5 volts which means that the battery like of the unit will be about 6 years. They would then have to remove the unit and change the battery. This level will be checked in three months and if the voltage needed could be reduced the battery life could be as much as 10 years. This reprogramming can even be done by placing a phone over the pacemaker and with signals sent remotely from the doctor’s office.

You can’t lift your left arm above the shoulder for 8 weeks or risk the wire separating from the muscle wall or the pacemaker. It takes time for the body to envelope it. You can’t drive for a week.

This unit is also a “rate adaptive” unit which means that it can sense one’s movement and kick up the rate as needed to as high as 120 bpm. As prior to the operation my peak rate possible during exercise was 70, this is an awesome difference.

So sorry I can’t make the meeting, but I can climb stairs, take walks as I want, do repair work all without taking breaks to deep breath to recover energy. See you next meeting.

That is it for medical stuff for a while..it was such a momentus change that it was worth adding.