Adjusting.....

It's taking a little longer than I thought it would to adjust to my new life with a pacemaker. I feel like I've been a little shell-shocked both physically and mentally!

I had my first appt. with the electrophysiology dept. last Tuesday and they said that everything looks good. I do still have some extra beats and that tachycardia which I started taking the atenolol for a few years ago so although I had gone off the atenolol since being home she said that I needed to go back on it. The atenolol makes me feel very tired though so she said it would be okay to cut it and only take half every night and we'll see how that goes.

So, what's a little strange is that my heartrate has developed these atrial blocks (upper part of the heart) which was making it too slow, but at the same time I still have the ventricular tachycardia (lower part of the heart) which makes it too fast. The pacemaker keeps it from getting too slow and the atenolol keeps it from getting too fast. So it's too slow AND too fast - huh?!

The incision area is still a little sore. My shirts rub against it all day long and it's very irritating. By the end of the day I'm ready to jump out of my skin. My whole upper left side is still very tender and sore.

I cannot believe how quickly and nicely the incision is healing though. It actually took me a day or two get the nerve to even look at it after the surgery. All I knew was it hurt and I thought it must look really, really bad! I had imagined it soooo bad that when I actually got the nerve up to look at it the first time it wasn't even close to as bad as I thought it was going to be! Everyday it is getting smaller and looking better. Dr. Sichrovsky (Dr. Tina), the Electrophysiologist who put it in, said that the scar should be all gone in about a year. When I went in for my check earlier this week they told me that Dr. Tina is the best and that her technique of putting these in and closing up the incision is the best they have ever seen.

There are many pros to having the pacemaker. I should be looking at it as a blessing in many ways. It will regulate my heartrate so that it will never drop below 50. That night it had dropped into the 30's and that was not fun! It is also constantly monitoring my heartrate.

I was told to be very careful moving my left arm around for the next 4-6 weeks. No over the head movements or reaching or picking up heavy things or else I may dislodge the leads which are attached to my heart. So of course, I'm terrified about doing this and have all kinds of visions in my head of these leads getting detached and loose in my body!

Simple things like walking the dog, taking a shower and even light household chores have become a bit of a project. Our dog Lina is not quite one year old so she is still a puppy and very active. I am fine walking her unless we run into one of her doggie friends and then she goes nuts and starts running around like a lunatic and pulls really hard. So the dr. told me at my checkup on Tuesday that I really shouldn't take her out walking by myself yet. Just taking a shower causes me great anxiety because for some reason I'm always afraid that the water is going to hurt when it hits down on the incision area - it never does but still I'm afraid every time! Also, once I'm in there I'm nervous about lifting my arm too much while I shampoo my hair and then I start to panick whenever I have to close my eyes and wash the shampoo out or get the soap in my eyes (although my mom says she always does that too - so maybe that's just genetic!).

Ever since this happened I cannot lay down flat. Even in the hospital I had to keep my bed up so that I was in a semi sitting position. Now I'm sleeping with tons of pillows all over the place! I'm also nervous about what side I should lean toward - the side that has the pacemaker or the opposite side? I keep feeling like I can feel it in there under my collarbone and it's just very difficult and uncomfortable to get situated at bedtime!

I drove to the library the other day with my parents. I was originally told to wait two weeks to drive but the dr. on tuesday said if I felt up to it I could try. My computer crashed and I was afraid my email would explode so I just wanted to check it on a computer at the library. Well, I felt fine driving except that the seatbelt was situated right over the scar and really hurt. I do not even want to think about getting in a car and having the seatbelt on it like that again until it is more healed.

Then there are all the precautions that go with getting a pacemaker....
*Don't stand in front of the microwave while it's going
*Don't use or carry (even if it's off) my cellphone on the left side (the side of the pacemaker)
*I may experience pacing "intereference" at stores while going through or standing near the anti-theft and security devices
*I have to avoid being near broadcasting towers for radio and television
*avoid transformer boxes
* avoid onstar devices
*avoice electric fences (like the ones used for pets -which my neighbors used to have!)
*avoid gasoline powered tools (this means to stay about 2 ft. away)
*avoid electric hedge clippers
*avoid CB's and Walkie Talkies
*avoid leaf blowers, weed wackers, snow blowers
*avoid power tools, like power drills, routers, electric screwdrivers, etc. (wonderful for the wife of a carpenter!)
*I cannot have an MRI (so what if I ever need one someday?!)
*no electolysis
*No airport security detectors - I have to tell them to use the wand on me but not over the area where the pacemaker is.
*take precautions around electronic kitchen appliances, blenders, etc.
*take precautions around elecronic grocery carts - another good reason to use Shoprite delivery! LOL!

I'm afraid I will completely forget that all these precautions and will just blow up someday because I'm in the wrong place!

I've been doing lots of research and accidentally came across something very scary, the company that makes my pacemaker Medtronics is involved in a lawsuit and recall. Recalling a pacemaker is not exactly the same thing as recalling a child's toy! I do not want to know about this lawsuit or the recall and haven't read anything more than the headline but it's very difficult because anytime I try to do a search on Medtronic that stuff comes up. I do not want to know!