@bevh Hi and Welcome to connect. I had one for almost 10 years so if you have any questions maybe I can help. I see from.a prior post that your ef is about 38 % so I can see why your getting one. As to the surgery itself they will build what they call a pocket usually in your upper left chest area and will be putting leads from.there down into your heart in different parts. There is a healing process which will require no heavy lifting and you usually are not allowed to raise your arms over your shoulder height. It will be baths only for a bit until the incision heals before showers are allowed. I think I was on light duty for 6 weeks at work while everything heals. It's important to follow the orders since the most critical part is that the wires build scar tissue over them. The replacement of those wires is a bit difficult in the future if they fail. Every so many years you will need a new battery mine was about 5 years but that was a while ago and they may last longer now. When a replacement of the main unit due to the battery is a rather easy surgery and won't require much healing time. But if a lead fails it's a more complex procedure so you would have a longer recovery like what you will have on the first time.

You will probably get a home unit that can get updates from.your device every so often while your sleeping and it will also alert your Doctor if something happens they are watching even if you don't notice. I always liked that part because it gave me a bit of confidence that my heart was being monitored. I also liked hearing during office visits when they would download your device and could see any minor issues. Well im available if you think of any questions. One saved my life on a few occasions and glad I had it. Your probably notice im.talking past tense. My Heart was pretty bad shape my ef was only 5 %/when I got mine and after about 10 years my Heart just gave out. I now have a new Heart but I am very glad of the days that the Pacemaker helped me. I was able to live a normal life and allowed me to continue to work in a career I enjoyed very much. As a note with the pacemaker monitoring things, some medications also my old Heart did recover to a 50 % EF.
Let us know how it goes, I look forward to hearing back when your recovered. I'll include you in my prayers for a speedy recovery.
Have a Blessed Day
Dana

Hi @bevh, as you will see, I merged your two discussions. The benefit of keeping like conversations together is so you don't have to keep up with two different discussions and it affords everyone who replied an update on how you are doing and what is happening with you moving forward with the placement of the subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator. You might be interested in a news post that Mayo shared about these defibrillators as well as a discussion where Connect members are talking about implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs).
- What is an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD)? https://connect.mayoclinic.org/page/genetic-heart-rhythm-disorders/newsfeed-post/what-is-an-implantable-cardioverter-defibrillator-icd/

- Understanding ICDs – Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/understanding-icds-implantable-cardioverter-defibrillator/

Can you share how you came to the decision to have one placed?