Update of my own

[Guest guest]

Just read 's update and thought I'd post an update of my own.

I, too, am doing so much better since my AV Node ablation and

implantation of a biventricular pacemaker. I am back to work for the

same organization that terminated me for using up my family medical

leave time, but it is with a new supervisor and ironically in the same

hospital that I spent so many wonderfula days and weeks this past

year...in fact it is a hospice unit on the same floor that I spent my

hospitalizations in (at least 3 of them). I joke that if I have any

cardiac issues, I can just walk down the hall and reserve a room for

myself. But I digress.

So, I am working M-F 9-1 and alternate Saturdays (a 20 hour work week)

allowing me to get to Dr's appointments, work out, and enjoy the other

half of my day.

I am working out daily with 60 minutes of cardio and 60 minutes of

free weights workout, and my pacemaker is set appropriately so that I

am not left feeling winded or too fatigues.

I continue to be in afib or aflutter, still paradoxically. Some

episodes are hours long and some only seconds long before my pacemaker

paces me out of it. For the most part, I am very active during the

day; most of my episodes occur at night.

I don't feel my afib, and the pacemaker stops following my own

intrinsic atrial beat, and just paces my ventricles. I do feel my

aflutter, as this particualr pacer doesn't recognize the flutter as an

arrythmia since the intervals between the atrial beat and the

ventricular paced beat is regular...so my heart rate will ramp up to

my upper limit of 140 and I'll feel the symptoms of flutter (dizzy,

chest pressure), and then the pacemaker will start dropping beats to

get me below the 140 mark.

My afib is occuring more frequently and the aflutter less; eventually

my EP tells me I'll be in persistent afib and I'll feel much better.

Currently my low rate is set at 75, to try and prevent the ectopics

that lead to episodes. In the last few days, my flutter episodes have

been minimal.

When I exercise aerobically, my heart rate monitor shows rates over

200 again, and the pacemaker reports show some episodes over 180, but

they are brief and then the pacemaker takes over.

Clinically, I am so much more improved, and there are adjustments that

will be made until the pacemaker is right for me. I am on a hefty dose

of Verapamil (480mg) to suppress PACs and treat hypertension; without

the pacemaker my heart rate would bottom out. These symptoms are well

controlled now. I am being paced 70-80% in my atria and 100% in my

ventricles, so I am very dependent on this pacer. So far it is doing

it's job.

My take on all of this: the pacemaker was the best and logical choice

for me, and my quality of life has almost completely been restored. I

am active, productive in the work force (and back to working in a

setting that I love) and enjoying life more. In fact, I am typing this

from my home town of Milwaukee, WI where I am visiting with family for

this next week.

I had my first experience in an airport with my pacemaker and the

interaction with security was handled discreetly and without event. (I

can't go through the gates without setting off the metal detectors and

I can't be wanded or my pacemaker can be reprogrammed. So I was patted

down by a very considerate female attendant.)

Well, that's it for now. Hope all is well with all of you.

--Barbara Blocker