Pace Maker

Doris and I hiking in Capital Reef.

I was asked by a friend to write my experience about my pace maker down.  I decided to publish it.  Maybe it can help someone. 

In 2006 – 2007, I had been having hard time breathing.  I went to an internist who said all I needed to do was lose weight, and that I had acid reflux, which was partly true.  She gave me medication for that.  Then in the spring of 2007, we went with Greg and Doris to Capital Reef and decided to do a mild hike.  I could only go a little ways because I was having such hard time breathing.  I was also extremely tired.  I thought that a lot of this was because I had bad hips.  So when we came back, I went to a different doctor.  He suggested I go and get my stomach scoped.  I went to a gastroenterologist and the nurse prepped me, and as he was doing this, he tested my heart rate.  It was 39.  My frustration was that neither of the other doctors had caught this. 

I went back to the GP and he referred me to “Heart of Dixie.”  I went there and they did a stress test on me, and I suppose they did some kind of x-ray.  Anyway, they found out that the bottom two chambers of my heart were not working.  In November of 2007, I went into the hospital and they put me under a local anesthetic and put my pace maker in.  The room was interesting.  I could see the big screen that showed them what they were doing.  The doctor looked at it as he worked the wires into my heart.  It took maybe 30-45 minutes.  As they were doing it, I started to come to and so they had to put me under more.  I remember saying, “I can feel you.”

I spent one night in the hospital.  After that I felt much better.  I had more energy.  I was still having trouble breathing, but didn’t think anything of it.  Finally this past spring, five years later, I mentioned it to the heart doctor and they gave me bistolic.  I can now breathe much easier.  I go into the doctor every six months to have my pacer checked.  They put an instrument around my neck that on the end has a small piece of equipment that is about the size of a mini donut.  It is hooked up to some computer and it checks my heart rate.  They can increase the pacer or slow it down.  It also tells them how much battery life is left so that they’ll know when they’ll need to go in and change the battery.  They stated that usually the batteries have to be changed every ten years.  But because I am so dependent on my pace maker, I’ll probably have to go in more often.  It has been five years and they told me the last time I went in that this would probably last another year and a half.  So we’ll see how they do that when the time comes.  

I have worried about having a pace maker put in, because I wondered if it would shorten my life.  However, my neighbor’s mother had one and she just died at age 94.  I believe that my life has been prolonged because of the pace maker, but it has taken me a while to get this through my head.