Three weeks after the appointment with Dr D, I arrived at the hospital with my parents and boyfriend. I was settled into my bed, and had a barrage of pre-op questions and last minute checks. A nurse fitted an IV cannula and gave me some IV antibiotics as a precaution. Looking around at the other patients, I noticed that I was the youngest by at least fifty years!
I was taken to the cath lab (cardiac operating theatre) and had to lie down on the operating table. The nurses covered me in sterile drapes and hooked me up to various monitors. The surgical site was covered in iodine disinfectant, and Dr D injected local anaesthetic. I was also given a sedative to relax me. Apparently most people fall asleep or can't remember what happened, but it didn't affect me like that at all. I can remember it as if it was yesterday.
The ILR device was removed, and the pacemaker was implanted in the same 'pocket'. Using moving x-rays, the two pacing wires were guided down into my heart, one in the atrium and one in the ventricles. Attached to the battery just under my skin, it constantly monitors my heart rate. If it senses that the rhythm is abnormal or beats are about to be dropped, the pacing function kick-starts the heart to beat normally.
The battery needs replacing at least every ten years and the pacemaker is checked regularly. Dr D and Dave, the cardiac technician, performed a few last minute checks, stitched up the wound and I was taken to the recovery ward. The operation usually takes under an hour, but due to some complications mine took over two - I bleed a lot, apparently!
The pacemaker was on 'factory settings' and was evidentally on too sensitive a setting as it was pacing my diaphragm! This - again! - was a rare occurrence and lots of staff gathered around my bed to watch my tummy 'beating' in a regular rhythm! Dave brought a machine which 'talks' to the pacemaker when a special 'mouse' is placed over the battery unit. He switched the pacer off overnight and sorted the settings before I was discharged the next day. I'd had a very uncomfortable night so spent the day recuperating in bed. A family friend, Chris, a senior cardiac nurse working for the British Heart Foundation, came over to check on me.
The next day I spent the afternoon with my friends, running about the town, back to my old self, but full of energy - at last!
TO BE CONTINUED......................
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