Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/07/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Wow, good thing there were people around you with their eye on the ball. Good luck! Cheers, Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ YNWA On Jul 14, 2012, at 10:54 PM, Herbert Kanner wrote: > Sorry, no photographs. I am the proud owner of a brand new pacemaker. Here > is the story: > > Ever since April, I have been having some bad days where walking a block > was a problem; I'd get painfully out of breath. The evening that I met > Richard Man at a gallery was the third of three consecutive days when this > problem got severe--I barely managed to stagger from my car a block to the > gallery, though by the time I had been there for a few minutes, I felt > fully ok. > > The following Monday morning, I saw my pulmonologist on a scheduled > appointment. (Now I have to decide whether to fire him for extreme > inattention to a possibly dangerous situation.) I described the increase > in my symptoms in detail. One of them was missed heartbeats. It started > months before, when I noticed that after activity, I would lose one > heartbeat out of ten. I had already mentioned this to the cardiologist and > got no reaction; an internet search indicated that if not accompanied by > chest pains, not to worry. But it had worsened to where, after any moving > around, it got to where, after two beats it would skip one, then maybe > after a bit, three beats then skip one. > > Well, especially since it could very well have been partially due to a > side effect from a new drug he had prescribed, he wrote out an order for > blood tests and for me to come back the next morning. When I took the > order to a lab, they pointed out that he had forgotten to put his name on > it (!!!!!) and they had to call him on his cell phone to get authorization. > > The next morning, July 10, he looked it over, saw anemia--again yet > another one of the myriad side effects of this drug--suggested stopping it > for two weeks and seeing him them. What bothers me is that he was not in > the least alarmed. > > I had a standing appointment for an annual physical that very afternoon, > did not feel up to it and phoned to cancel it. About an hour or so after > that, I decided that I was getting scared, called back, told what was > going on, and the doctor's nurse said to come in--that they'd fit me in > and would do an EKG. > > I cooled my heels for a while after the EKG. The doctor was not happy with > it and took it to a cardiologist, came back and told me that sending me > home was too risky and that she had arranged for me to go right to the > emergency room. I phoned my wife, who had a bit of trouble absorbing this > startling info in a hurry over the telephone, but eventually got it and > ferried me there--I had an ok on leaving my own car at the doctor's > parking lot. > > After a relatively short time, considering that it was an emergency room > at Stanford Hospital, they told me that they were admitting me to the > hospital. That was Tuesday night. All day Wednesday, the > electro-cardiologists were trying to make up there mind whether or not I > should get a pacemaker. I wound up making the decision for them. Around > noon on Wednesday, my wife was visiting while I was eating lunch--hospital > food has sure improved--and just as I leaned forward to pick up a shrimp > by the tail and bring it to my mouth, I felt dizzy for just two or three > seconds. Thought nothing of it. Didn't even remember that I was supposed > to tell the nurse if I got dizzy--got mildly chewed out for it later. > Early that evening a cardiologist walked in with a printout in his hand, > asked: "Were you dizzy today?" showed me a monitor printout that indicated > that my heart had stopped for about six seconds. He said: "You need a > pacemaker". > > One was installed the very next morning. The amazing thing is that it's > all done with local anesthetics and extremely mild sedation. The procedure > took about an hour. I didn't get out until late the next afternoon because > it took all day to arrange a couple of ten minute procedures: an x-ray to > make sure the pacemaker wires were where they should be, and a session > where an expert nurse-practitioner who tested and reprogrammed the thing > by inductive coupling to a specialized computer program. > > That's how I spent a week. No photography. > -- > Herbert Kanner > kanner at acm.org > 650-326-8204 > > Question authority and the authorities will question you. > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >