Pacemaker is Dead & I'm Still Kicking!
I discovered a month ago that my pacemaker malfunctioned and died in 2014! I couldn't believe it. The news totally shocked me!
I have extensive heart issues, have had 10 open heart surgeries, 12 catheterizations, and 3 pacemaker implants. My last pacemaker was implanted in May 2010. The reason I have it is my heart was going down into the 20's and 30's at night, which is near a coma.. and the docs were afraid I would die so they put in my first pacemaker when I was 11 in 1992 to keep my heart rate at around 60bpm when I am resting. They've been actively replacing this every 7-10 yrs.
So a month ago I went in for a check up to have my pacer checked. I am supposed to call into the Mayo Clinic every 3 months to have it scanned.. I hadn't done this in 5 yrs.. LOL!
When I went into the doc's office.. the attendant nearly passed out.. he told me that I should be dead because my pacer malfunctioned and died back in 2014. Below is a screen shot of that info.. it says EOL which means (End of Life) of the pacemaker.. I was terrified.
I then was sent to the ER and was hospitalized overnight and the docs realized that .. I didn't actually need a pacemaker anymore. They said that it looked like my heart had healed itself.. strange, eh? Needless to say, I didn't want any boneheads operating on me who didn't know me and my crazy health history. The head heart doc at this hospital... which is the best heart hospital in my state, said that he had never seen anyone with as many heart problems as I have and doing so well! That was a compliment!
So What's next?
I am leaving in a week for Rochester MN, to visit the Mayo Clinic and have my heart evaluated. It is there that they will decide if I need another pacemaker. Today I received a Holter Monitor from Mayo, so I can record my heart rate for the next two weeks to give them data.
I feel so blessed.. knowing that this darn thing died in my chest and yet I am still kicking!
Life is a Gift and it's full of wonders and miracles!
When your pace-maker dies on you but you don't, you really have Somebody looking out for you! Best wishes and good luck at Mayo Clinic!!!
Thank you! =) Yes.. it makes me appreciate life even more!
The doctors told my best friend's mother she had seen her last Christmas about ten years before she died.
Modern medicine has come a long way, but it doesn't know everything.
WOW! That is so true! And to think that she had another 10 yrs to live.. that is wonderful!
Yeah. Doctors told her not to bother with chemo. She'd be torturing herself for no reason. Focus on getting her affairs in order and spending time with her family. She said to heck with that and wanted to fight on anyway, and ended up seeing both of her kids graduate from college and get married. She ended up burying her husband instead of the other way around.
When she finally went to the hospital for the last time, about ten years after that, she still wanted to fight. Can't win all the time, though.
True Indeed
Wonders And Miracles
I tell ya.. blows me away sometimes..
You truly have a good heart. Awww
A story to make my day
and my smiles.
Everyday I get a reminder of how precious life.. it's definitely something to reflect on. =D
My father in law has really been on my case lately so I have taken to sewing fridge magnets inside his pillow cases; no useful results as yet . . .
/ hugz ; )