Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/07/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]He would not feel anything. What happens is that one end of the heart, top or bottom, sends a signal to the other end saying "contract." If this signal is not received within a few milliseconds because of some kind of conductivity failure, the pacemaker sends that signal. So as far as the heart is concerned, it is as if the initial signal got through. The only other thing my pacemaker is set to do is not to allow my pulse rate to fall below 55 beats per minute. So, if that were to happen, it would take over and initiate signals. The only thing I can notice is a negative thing: my heart no longer skips any beats. Herb >Herb, > >I think your doctor who ordered the EKG was very much on the ball. >Glad you got the job done. > >My late father-in-law received a pacemaker at about your age, >following open heart surgery. It worked out fine for him. Since we >were 75 miles from the hospital in Nashville where it was done, we >received a device that allowed me to connect him by telephone once a >month, so they could see that all was well. I'm sure things have >progressed in the intervening years. > >I'm not sure he ever really felt that the PM was intervening with >the heartbeat, but, for peace of mind, you can't beat it! > >Jim Nichols >Tullahoma, TN USA >----- Original Message ----- From: "Herbert Kanner" <kanner at acm.org> >To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org> >Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 3:54 PM >Subject: [Leica] OT My night and three days in the hospital > > >>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 >> >> > > > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information -- Herbert Kanner kanner at acm.org 650-326-8204 Question authority and the authorities will question you.