97 year old mother needs new pacemaker

Is your mom's pacemaker leadless and the doctor replacing it through the catheter?
Most people have multiple replacement because of the battery lifetime of about six to ten years.
She depends upon the pacemaker to maintain her heart's electrical rhythms.
She should be happy.
If she has older equipment with leads he may be replacing the generator, but wouldn't be able to do that through a catheter. Either way the procedure is outpatient and takes between 30 minutes to an hour. Recovery is easier if it is through the catheter procedure.
Bless her heart.

The doctor said her heart working depends upon the pacemaker so they need the catheter in case there's a problem, like it stops beating. He says they do it for patients like her.

She has wires. She's been slipping the last couple months. The funny part is she's nicer than ever. She's a bit fatigued and sleeps a lot. We took her out for dinner after the doctor visit and she ate like she hadn't in a week. Her appetite hasn't been good and she doesn't like to drink much. I read up on end of life symptoms last week. Can't believe I just got to this subject.

She said she's not taking her water pill and her weight is constant at 97-98 lbs. No swelling but I see symptoms of confusion and forgetfulness at times. Her balance is pretty good and she manages the four steps into the garage.

She's in no way open to leaving her home and changing her way of life. I've danced around the subject a couple times but she's still cooking and washing and dressing fine. She hasn't driven for a few weeks as far as I can tell. I know how the car is positioned in the garage.

woojr, it sounds like she is in very good hands with the cardiologist. I hope it's an easy recovery--should be. She'll be feeling better. If you can, convey my best wishes to her and my admiration for her spirit. I hope to hear more fun stories of her escaping your control.

Thank you all for caring. Everyone's saying it should be okay and she'll recover quickly. I just spoke to her a couple minutes ago, woke her up. I'll call her back after dinner. She's actually 96. Her birthday is June 14th and we'll have her place red white and blue. It's already pretty flagged up inside and out.

@woojr
I am on my 3rd ICD/Pacemaker. Mine is wires also. I am not pacemaker dependent. I am scheduled for my 4th device in one year. I am 79 now and have no worries about the surgery. It is outpatient and considered minor. I have never had any post surgery issues.

The batteries usually last 8-10 years. I have a ICD/Pacemaker. My ICD is always monitoring my heart. Thus more of an energy drain. And when it charges if I need a shock it uses even more electricity that just a Pacemaker.

I am not pacemaker dependent but my resting heart rate is 40 because of Entresto and Carvedilol. Thus my EP has my pacemaker pacing me to maintain an 70 bpm. So it always pacing me.

It is a steady pulsing so I never feel it "kicking in." Since mother is pacemaker dependent hers too is always pacing her as she too does not get the kicking in when pacemaker only comes on when heart rate falls.

Have you asked her whether she wants it replaced?

"She's happy and is actually looking forward to getting new equipment."

Just caught up with this. Yesterday was her birthday. She's looking forward to it. It's next Tuesday. I expect her to be a little anxious now that the excitement of her party yesterday is over.

As far as whether she actually wants it replaced, she's been worried about it for a couple years. She likes to worry a little, LOL. The worry was that the battery would die.

@woojr Wow I'm empowered to hear of success stories like yours. 97 what a great testimony of how Medical devices can really be a success. Thanks for sharing in the journey.