Hi Everyone, I'm actually a former Pacemaker/ICD Patient. I had one for almost 10 years. Before going on I'll share why I needed one. I was having a rather bad Flu Bug that was causing breathing problems. I went to see a urgent care Doctor who put me on the 5 day Antibiotic pack. Well my breathing got so bad I didn't finish and I could not even lie down, so off to the emergency room..what had happened is the fluid around my lungs and heart had put so much pressure on both that heart enlarged..this is what necessitated an emergency Hospitalation to drain off the fluid. But unfortunately this started my journey with needing a pacemaker/ICD. My heart was now enlarged and that's one muscle you don't want large. For a while like 3 or 4 years I didn't even know why I had it. I was put on some meds including Amiodarone and life went back to normal. The other thing I was told was my Injection Factor was @ 5 % (that part I found out later). But things got better for a while.

With the new Pacemaker and leads to my Heart, required some light duty at work of 6 weeks no lifting over 10 lbs and no reaching over my head. But until 2011 (the pacemaker was installed in 2008) nothing seemed wrong. But then I got my first shock. Wow was that an experience..I was driving on a date as a matter of fact with my current wife taking a friend home when I lost my vision and luckily I was on a rural road and was able to pull over. Then I got shocked twice. I did find out later that my pacemaker/ICD was set to shock rather than pace me out at first. Well this definitely got my attention. I ended up in the Hospital totally confused as to why I was awake when it happened. I was under the misconceptions that typically the shock only happens when your Heart stops and basically have passed out. Well I found out differently. So long story short they did some adjustments and now I would be paces out and if it didn't work then the shock. But that at least gave me a chance to be ready for the shock. I could usually tell when my heart was having an arrythmia(went into a Vtach) and I could pull my car over to wait it out..this only happened 2.other times in the 10 years I was with one. Most of the time I was usually at home or mostly it happened at night in Bed. So I'm sure your wondering how I ended up having it removed. Well after let's see I think it was about 8 Ablation surgeries and being shocked about 8 different bad arrythmia with over 20 shocks over 10 years and 1 battery replaced they had me evaluated for a Heart Transplant. Which I now have a new Heart. I say that to say there are always new treatments that can solve your Heart issue..I take great comfort in knowing that there are always options. So lots of stories to tell and please ask away. I've seen a lot of ups and downs. But now mostly ups. 7 years with my new Heart and just a different set of rules.