From the Heart- All About My Pacemaker + I Got a New Pacemaker Monitoring System!
Hi guys! I thought it would be a good idea for me to tell y'all about my pacemaker before I attempt to upload a video about my first reaction to the new pacemaker monitoring system that came in the mail.
About 2 years ago, I was going to a normal cardiology appointment. I go to two each year for my heart condition. All of the cardiology appointments that I can remember prior to that appointment went great. By that I mean that other than my heart condition and a bit of valve leakage, my heart was strong and healthy. So because of all of these good appointments, I assumed that this one would be too.
At the appointment, I had an EKG and an echocardiogram. My mom and I waited for the doctor to come in and then he told us the unexpected news: for the last year my heart rate had gradually been slowing down over time and the only way to fix it would be to get a pacemaker. This was scary for me to hear because even though I had had 4 heart surgeries as a very small child, the idea of having a surgery that I would remember was creepy.
Praise God, He gave me grace and I was able to have an abdominal pacemaker inserted about two weeks later by the same surgeon who had done my previous heart surgeries 😃! It was so cool to get to meet my hero, the man who God worked through to save my life.
The surgery was a success besides the scar getting infected which got resolved quickly. I can confidently say that having a pacemaker has greatly improved my quality of life. I have more energy than I did before and can live a normal, healthy life.
This may be surprising but my pacemaker does not affect my life day-to-day. What I mean by that is that I often times just go about my normal life without even thinking about the fact that I have one! Of course, I think about it sometimes but it's not a burden to me. I can still do just about everything that I was able to do before. I just have to be careful that I don't get impacted hard in my abdominal area, which isn't a big deal. I also have to be careful about strong magnets and high voltage but that honestly doesn't come into play much in daily life except for being scanned at the airport and the like.
Since my pacemaker has been functioning really well, I go to my electrophysiologist to have it checked only once a year! In the meantime, I use a gadget from Medtronic to test it every 3 months via my mobile phone. The data from the pacemaker then gets automatically sent to the medical center where I receive care for it.
I just received a new monitoring system in the mail, so I have to figure out how to sue it and then get back to y'all.
Don't forget to follow me on instagram!
About 2 years ago, I was going to a normal cardiology appointment. I go to two each year for my heart condition. All of the cardiology appointments that I can remember prior to that appointment went great. By that I mean that other than my heart condition and a bit of valve leakage, my heart was strong and healthy. So because of all of these good appointments, I assumed that this one would be too.
At the appointment, I had an EKG and an echocardiogram. My mom and I waited for the doctor to come in and then he told us the unexpected news: for the last year my heart rate had gradually been slowing down over time and the only way to fix it would be to get a pacemaker. This was scary for me to hear because even though I had had 4 heart surgeries as a very small child, the idea of having a surgery that I would remember was creepy.
Praise God, He gave me grace and I was able to have an abdominal pacemaker inserted about two weeks later by the same surgeon who had done my previous heart surgeries 😃! It was so cool to get to meet my hero, the man who God worked through to save my life.
The surgery was a success besides the scar getting infected which got resolved quickly. I can confidently say that having a pacemaker has greatly improved my quality of life. I have more energy than I did before and can live a normal, healthy life.
This may be surprising but my pacemaker does not affect my life day-to-day. What I mean by that is that I often times just go about my normal life without even thinking about the fact that I have one! Of course, I think about it sometimes but it's not a burden to me. I can still do just about everything that I was able to do before. I just have to be careful that I don't get impacted hard in my abdominal area, which isn't a big deal. I also have to be careful about strong magnets and high voltage but that honestly doesn't come into play much in daily life except for being scanned at the airport and the like.
Since my pacemaker has been functioning really well, I go to my electrophysiologist to have it checked only once a year! In the meantime, I use a gadget from Medtronic to test it every 3 months via my mobile phone. The data from the pacemaker then gets automatically sent to the medical center where I receive care for it.
I just received a new monitoring system in the mail, so I have to figure out how to sue it and then get back to y'all.
Don't forget to follow me on instagram!
I am praying for you! God has been so gracious and it is a great reminder of his faithfulness!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth! God has definitely been gracious and faithful to me!
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