Reprograming the Electronics

Since I'm sure everyone is highly interested in what life is like with a pacemaker, here's the next installment. This week I had an appointment to get the little electronic piece of equipment reprogrammed. This is necessary to optimized the battery life and therefore my life.

It turns out that even though I am 100% dependent on this thing to cause my heart to beat, it doesn't take a very big kick to get it to move. Therefore the power behind the kick could be turned very low and still do the job, which will probably add a couple of years to my battery life. The other interesting thing is that the pacemaker is capable of adjusting heart rate based on body movement and hormones emitted, but it seems that my heart does not need that function at present so it is not turned on.

Previously I told you that I could call the doctor and hold the phone up to my pacemaker and the doctor could read the battery life, etc. right over the phone. That was based on what the nurse had told me rather than directly from the doctor. Yes, it is true for many pacemakers where the reason for them is too fast a heart beat. In my case it was too slow and that particular feature has not yet been implemented in this style although it is due out this year sometime.

My pacemaker stores information about my heart rate. so when I was seeing the doctor he looked at the readout and said "I see your heart was beating a little fast on Dec. 2 (your dad though he said Dec. 22, oh well whichever) but that was the only time since you've gotten this. Your numbers are perfect" It seems nothing is hidden anymore. No, I don't know what I was doing on that date.

So far I am feeling fine so don't spend even a moment worrying about how I am doing.