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DiscussionPacemaker recipients: Looking for support from others
Heart Rhythm Conditions | Last Active: Nov 4 5:49am | Replies (490)Comment receiving replies
Replies to "Thank you so much. Im so glad you replied. I failed to mention I also have..."
Hi Joanne, yes I do know about the 3rd lead as I had one from the beginning and I'm thinking that one is the one that can be helpful to pace you ot of a VT. The watchmen I never had one of those and since I didn't have afib I wasn't on a blood thinner. The additional wire will be similar to when the placed the pacemaker, but I believe with less recovery time but I would plan on a similar recovery that you had after the initial pacemaker procedure. I can definitely relate to fears doing certain things for me towards the end mine always seem to happen near midnight which gave me anxiety going to sleep. My first shock ever was while I was driving and for probably 2 months after I had a lot of fear driving. I did finally get over it and after a few adjustments it did get a lot better for almost 10 years I had very few problems. But then my overall heart itself got worse and in case your wondering why I talk in past tense I ended up with a heart transplant. That came with a new set of issues and made me have to retire but I'm stating this for you to realize there are options going forward.
Also on the settings originally they had mine to go immediately to shock if my heart rate went over a certain level and that was my first shock but after that with the adjustments and a different doctor plus 2 ablation a year apart my life became very normal and for about 6 years only a few issues that required adjustments. I did have 2 sets of shocks but years apart so it was easier to tolerate. It wasn't until my heart got even worse that we had to look into transplant and that part is I believe more of a spiritual issue than anything. I believe God had a different route for me but he used this period to wake me up. Like I mentioned I was at this point still drinking and now I believe he needed me to stop. That was 2015 and I had a really bad incident 8 shocks between my house and the hospital until they got enough drugs in me to stop the arrhythmia I quit drinking as of that incident and if I hadn't I would not have gotten my transplant in Jan 2018. So now I was forced to retire at 58 I'm 62 now but it all worked out and I was able to do what i believe God had in mind for me. I'm not trying to push my beliefs on you but wanted to share what motivated me to now be much happier than I was 7 years ago when I had that incident in Dec of 2015. I can relate to why suicide seems at times to be an option it did run thru my mind that day in 2015 but someone(God) wouldn't let me go that route. So I'm sharing this in hopes that you look past this period and realize there are more options to look at.