I've been in the hospital. I now have a pacemaker inserted in my heart. For about three days before Thanksgiving every time I stood up I would get really light headed. Even so I managed to help distribute the turkey dinners for the needy in the ward, wrap my kids gifts, and fix dinner for Thanksgiving. Tim did offer to bring me a stool to do all the work while sitting, but I said I would rather have help, so he peeled 4 potatoes. Amber helped whip them and made the stuffing and set the table, etc.
After dinner I could hardly walk to the bathroom without holding onto the wall. I felt like this lifestyle was just not going to work out for me so asked Tim to take me to Kahuku Hospital to see what the trouble was.
My pulse was 34 although blood pressure and everything else was OK they transferred me by ambulance to Castle. (They told your dad he couldn't drive me because the top and bottom halves of my heart were firing irregularly. It was a complete electrical blockage (not a heart attack or stroke. They told daddy if they both happened to fire at the same time it would be very bad)
At Castle it didn't take long to determine that I needed a Pacemaker put in my heart. They put in a temporary one very soon. A wire was threaded through the vein in my neck down to my heart and electrical pulses were applied with plans to put in a permanent one on Saturday. Unfortunately the temporary one wasn't so good so it often stopped catching and by Saturday after it had stopped about 6 times and so my diaphragm had started trying top create a pulse making me look like a serious hiccup case they zipped me into surgery for the internal pacemaker.
A small incision mas made in my left upper chest and the pacemaker inserted. Only local anesthesia is used. I will wear a sling for two or three days so that I don't move my left arm too soon and dislodge the thing and die on the spot. "Yes, I am 99% dependent on this little pacemaker in order to stay alive."If I need to talk to a doctor I can just call in, hold the receiver to my chest at the equipment site and it will transmit directly to him the battery life and status of my pacemaker and situation.
I should be able to go home tomorrow and as long as I keep my energizer bunny current I can just keep going, and going, and going, through the millennium I suppose.
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3 comments:
That's scary! Don't dislodge it, okay. Peter tried to call you a couple times, but had no luck. Be careful to not drain the battery.
I am a HUGE fan of modern medicine and now I am even more grateful for it. I am glad you are OK BK! You are in our prayers. We love you!
I'm so glad I got to talk to you today and that you are doing much better. Such a scary weekend for you. Modern medicine is definitely a blessing in all our lives. We are so grateful to know you are well and will be with us for a long long time.
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