I just got back from my "9-month" check-up with my electrophysiologist. They interrogated my pacemaker and ran some tests.
The one issue I was worried about was AFIB. No significant episodes of AFIB reported. One 6-second period last week, just after we dropped my beta blocker dosage, but they don't feel that is significant - especially since that's about the only one since late March. I do seem to have some instances of atrial tachycardia, but nobody seems to be concerned about those.
Now for the surprise. After surgery, I was told that I was pacemaker-dependent. They said that even after 3 months, I depended upon the pacemaker about 50% of the time for atrial pacing and nearly 100% of the time for ventricular pacing. Last August they did say that there was evidence that my natural ventricular pacing was beginning to return, but not enough to be useful. Well, today at 9 months post op, they said that my natural ventricular pacing pulses are stronger - strong enough that they adjusted the pacemaker to allow a longer pause between its atrial and ventricular pulses to see if my heart would pace naturally and low and behold, my natural pacing took over. At least at rest, I was fully self-pacing! The doc did say that he expects that under load, such as exercise, I will probably revert to being dependent on the pacemaker. This may not sound like much, but it means that my pacemaker battery might last a much longer time. It also has emotional impact in that if the pacemaker somehow malfunctions, it wouldn't be "lights out" immediately.
It will take me some time to get used to the changes they made to my pacing parameters, and also to the idea that I'm not 100% dependent upon the device. I also will be testing it at the gym this evening, to see if the adjustments have any other effects. I'm not running any more (knees hurt too much) but I do "power walk" on a 10% incline and ride an exercise bicycle, both of which can elevate my heart rate quite well. I'll see how it reacts now. . .
The one issue I was worried about was AFIB. No significant episodes of AFIB reported. One 6-second period last week, just after we dropped my beta blocker dosage, but they don't feel that is significant - especially since that's about the only one since late March. I do seem to have some instances of atrial tachycardia, but nobody seems to be concerned about those.
Now for the surprise. After surgery, I was told that I was pacemaker-dependent. They said that even after 3 months, I depended upon the pacemaker about 50% of the time for atrial pacing and nearly 100% of the time for ventricular pacing. Last August they did say that there was evidence that my natural ventricular pacing was beginning to return, but not enough to be useful. Well, today at 9 months post op, they said that my natural ventricular pacing pulses are stronger - strong enough that they adjusted the pacemaker to allow a longer pause between its atrial and ventricular pulses to see if my heart would pace naturally and low and behold, my natural pacing took over. At least at rest, I was fully self-pacing! The doc did say that he expects that under load, such as exercise, I will probably revert to being dependent on the pacemaker. This may not sound like much, but it means that my pacemaker battery might last a much longer time. It also has emotional impact in that if the pacemaker somehow malfunctions, it wouldn't be "lights out" immediately.
It will take me some time to get used to the changes they made to my pacing parameters, and also to the idea that I'm not 100% dependent upon the device. I also will be testing it at the gym this evening, to see if the adjustments have any other effects. I'm not running any more (knees hurt too much) but I do "power walk" on a 10% incline and ride an exercise bicycle, both of which can elevate my heart rate quite well. I'll see how it reacts now. . .
