Need Pacemaker

[Lynne1]

Peter is otherwise progressing well but his heart is just not working on its own and it does look like they will give him a pacemaker. Are there others out there who needed this as a result of valve replacement? We're told that with 2 valves it increases the possibility but we really weren't prepared for it going in. Anything to be aware of?

 

[bvdr]

I don't know Lynn. I think this is something you might have to teach us about later. It seems like with two valves there is more tissue disturbed in the heart and the likelihood of needing a pacer would be increased.

Alot of people on this board have pacers. I'm sure you will get some imput from them.

I'm glad everything else seems to be going well. Take care of yourself too as this is also a very tough time for family. Don't forget to tell him hello from his VR family.

 

[Nancy]

Hi Lynne-

Joe's got a pacemaker. He had bouts of bradycardia with fainting episodes. He doesn't even know it's there. It has to be "interrogated" (checked) (I always get a kick out of that term, I see this little tiny pacemaker sitting on a hard table with a bright light shining on it, being asked tough questions) every 6 months or so, but that's about it. He doesn't use his much, but if he needs it, it's there. He hasn't had any more fainting episodes, and the pacemaker has probably saved his life a couple of times. Millions of people have them. They are an absolutely amazing invention.

Best wishes-

 

[Kathy]

Lynne,

I needed a pacemaker after a mitral valve repair. I was told that 40% of valve patients have problems with A Fib after surgery and 10% will need a pacemaker. The main problem was that the A Fib was intermittent and I needed to be medicated. The medications would lower my already low heart rate to dangerous levels occasionally, hence the pacemaker.

I was really distressed over the pacemaker, simply because I hadn't anticipated it. The doctors couldn't agree on how long to observe me to determine if the A Fib would resolve itself so I was in the hospital for 17 days. I did develop a pocket hemotoma or blood clot. My doctor assured me that it was not unusual and the body would absorb the hemotoma, which caused the area to be very sore. It took at least three months for the absorbtion to be complete.

I do notice that the pacemaker is there, but the site is no longer sore. I'm rather thin, so I can even feel the wire. Personally, I think that is kind of creepy, but I don't need to be checking it out on a daily basis. When I had it checked I was told that it kicks in about 12% of the time, so I guess it is necessary.

 

[Birky]

pacemaker

pacemaker

I was told the same thing about this being common after valve surgery. I had to stay 11 days before they would take out the pacemaker. At one time they had it set at 30 and it was kicking in. Once the digoxin got out of my system it straightened out. They couldn't make up their minds as what to do. After I was home for 5 days, I started with Afib and was back in the hospital getting Cardizen by IV which fixed it and are still taking the Cardizem.

 

[Lynne1]

Pacemaker put in

Pacemaker put in

Peter got the pacemaker today. It wasn't because he had afib - the maze takes care of that. It was because he had bracyacardia - low heart rate - actually went into the 30's. Surgeon says this happens in under 10% of cases. It may return over time on its own but now he needs the pacemaker really 100% to be able to sustain heart rate. But at least it's done and hopefully he'll be up and walking tomorrow. All of this delayed that for nearly a week which can't be good for recovery.

 

[Ross]

While I know all too well what it's like staying in there, don't rush it. It'll all work out over time. If he starts to feel bad about his length of stay, tell him that Ross and Lettitia with our 60 and 56 day stays cannot be beat. That should make him feel a lot better.

 

[Nancy]

Hi Lynne-

He'll make up for lost time with the little delay in recovery. His new pacemaker should help tremendously. Congratulations on your "electrical man". He's the energizer bunny now.

 

[Kathy]

Lynne,

I understand your frustration with the delay in recovery. My good friend is an RN who did a stint as head nurse in a Cardiac Step Down Unit. She had told me when I went in that I was to stay in the hospital as long as they would keep me. It is her opinion that people are sent home much too early after cardiac surgery and they sometimes land back in the hospital with complications a few weeks later which could have been prevented. Insurance coverage has a lot to do with discharge dates these days. When my husband reminded me of her opinion on my 15th day of hospitalization I wanted to deck him.

 

[hhardt]

I have had my pacemaker for 2 1/2 years with no problems. What it does is keep the heart rate above a set level. Mine is 70 beats a min. My latest reading was last month and they were able to tell me everything abnormal my heart did since the last reading 6 months ago. Originally I had AF most the time. I had cardioversion which stopped the AF and allowed me to stop amiodarone (sp?) and coumadin. I have had AF several times during the past but not often and the longest was 8 seconds. I never notice anything happening at all with the PM. Except for the buldge and being able to feel it below the buldge, I feel nothing unusual. In fact, everything they fixed works well. My PM battery is good for at least 55 more months. It is hard to measure longer with any accuracy.
Restrictions are minimal. No more MRIs, being carefull to not be aroung big magnetic fields ( running car with hood open, carnival rides, arc stuff (ie welders) and such) which you rarely do anyway. X-rays are OK. I have heard wild stories what airport inspectors do because they should not wand you. You should not walk through the airport detector, which would go off everytime anyway. Beware to not fall in a way that could yank on the wires. Being pulled from the heart would have bad, bad results. Some say their golf gets better. Mine did not.

 

[Gnusgal]

Alright, I'm going to officially declare myself the "pacemaker expert" of the forum. (If anyone wants to defute this, go right ahead) I got my first pacemaker when I was 7 years old. Now, 20 years later, I am on my 4th unit (but original wires!).

When I was young I was not allowed to go through metal detectors at the airport. I was told it would "reprogram" my pacemaker, which really freaked me out (I am 99.9% dependant on my pacer). So I have many embarassing stories of being frisked in the airport. Oh, well. However, after I got my third pacemaker my cardioligist told me it was now okay to go through metal detectors, as the device is more protected now (or something like that). Well, I've been through many detectors since then. However, with the new 9/11 alerts, it is possible they have cranked up the magnatism on the metal detectors, and therefore it would be a problem to go through them again (I haven't been to an airport since 9/11. Just don't travel much). But I was also told that while it does "reprogram" it, that only lasts while you are actually under the magnet. It would act just like when they put the magnet over your pacer in the interrigation. As soon as you take the magnet away, your pacer will go back to normal. So do not get too freaked out by things like that...

As for feeling it... Some people notice their pacers working, but I only do when I hit my top limit. That used to happen a lot more often until they upped my limit to 160 (or something like that). When it was 120, I would hit it all the time, then feel lousy. But no problems now. I never notice it increasing my hr, as it has to do that all the time anyway (ventricals use it 98%).

The great thing is that you can have confidence that your heart rate won't drop dangerously low. But it doesn't always stop arrythmias. It just depends on how yours is programmed. I've had my unit reprogrammed many times due to various arrythmias. But it's nice to know that is an option!

Anyway, I'll stop for now. If you have a question, just let me know.

 

[hhardt]

For the record, when the pacemaker is effected greatly by a magnetic field, it should return to the default settings. If yours has been reset to different instructions, that would probably again require resetting to what the doc wanted for your case.

 

[Susan BAV]

Hi Lynne - I just wanted to say I hope things are going better for your husband and I hope things are going as well as possible for you too. I feel like I lost October somehow and I didn't realize how many other people were going through surgeries this month too. Best wishes to you both, ~Susan