- Joined
- Jan 23, 2012
- Messages
- 1,216
i know some of you have same situation as i. this past week i was fortunate enough to live thru all the tests and stuff and qualify for an implanted dual purpose machine. the other good news is i may be able mow the lawn for a few more years from the green side. i know, im sort of making a joke of it but its very serious. i had a quadruple bypass three years ago, after having a near heart attack. never hit the ground with screaming pains or anything, just funny feeling one morning and my great wife called 911. so after a week or so of the bypass, and then an additional two weeks of a related lung problem i was released and felt pretty dang good... almost like a new dude.
fast forward to this spring, i was having some episodes of nearly fainting, very randomly and hardly ever the same. some were closer to blacking out then others, weeks would go buy with no problems. . . . .
last week my best friend told me his throat cancer had returned and he could not be re-treated for various reasons, and thru the tears for him, i mentioned these episodes to him. well, he convincedme to at least call my heart doctor and at least get an opinion. . . which i did. she had me wear a holter monitor for two days two weeks ago and please bring the thing back the following day wich i did. i guess that was actually last monday. about three hours later i see this message on my phone from the heart dr. telling me to get my ass to the er rponto. something was not looking good at all. being the most obedient person i am, i handed the phone to my wife for her to listen. well, **** hitting the fan is a rare occurance in our lives so her reaction to phone message was quite surprising.
i figured that if i had been flurting with death for a few months, a few more hours would not be a major problem so we finished our business in town and came home to ready ourselves for a tuesday morning trip to the hospital.
got there at 10am, got me a bed right away as they were expecting me (that makes a guy feel pretty important) and got all wired up and into the cath lab. nighty night, & into the groin they went, next thing i hear is, your rythym is all wacky. im missing beats, goes up and down with beats per minute and the bypass stuff from the past was looking great. what next ?
the electric heart doctor did another groin entering test, this time using wires on the heart to try to see what it would take to make it go way way off whack and what it would take to correct it with a set of paddles. dang good thing i was really sleeping. . . .
i was out and back in my room by 5:30 or so and dang hungry by that time. anyway since tuesday i have an implanted gadget in my chest, keeps my beat above 50, good for 8 years before it needs replacing. im taking meds to try to keep the electrics in my heart more stable that it was, and am now quite restricted. no driving for 6 month, no lifting or arm raising for 4-6 weeks and the biggest downfall is NO WELDiNG, which brings up the questions. . . .
im not a welder, but i do use a plazma for cutting sheetmetal and i guess that will need to cease but the welding i do, is with a mig, and 99% of that is more like tack welds. . . .
do any of you have experience with these restrictions ? i would really like to hear from you if you do. . . . .
thanks for reading. . .and if its over tomorrow, i can say its been a GREAT ride.
davidh
fast forward to this spring, i was having some episodes of nearly fainting, very randomly and hardly ever the same. some were closer to blacking out then others, weeks would go buy with no problems. . . . .
last week my best friend told me his throat cancer had returned and he could not be re-treated for various reasons, and thru the tears for him, i mentioned these episodes to him. well, he convincedme to at least call my heart doctor and at least get an opinion. . . which i did. she had me wear a holter monitor for two days two weeks ago and please bring the thing back the following day wich i did. i guess that was actually last monday. about three hours later i see this message on my phone from the heart dr. telling me to get my ass to the er rponto. something was not looking good at all. being the most obedient person i am, i handed the phone to my wife for her to listen. well, **** hitting the fan is a rare occurance in our lives so her reaction to phone message was quite surprising.
i figured that if i had been flurting with death for a few months, a few more hours would not be a major problem so we finished our business in town and came home to ready ourselves for a tuesday morning trip to the hospital.
got there at 10am, got me a bed right away as they were expecting me (that makes a guy feel pretty important) and got all wired up and into the cath lab. nighty night, & into the groin they went, next thing i hear is, your rythym is all wacky. im missing beats, goes up and down with beats per minute and the bypass stuff from the past was looking great. what next ?
the electric heart doctor did another groin entering test, this time using wires on the heart to try to see what it would take to make it go way way off whack and what it would take to correct it with a set of paddles. dang good thing i was really sleeping. . . .
i was out and back in my room by 5:30 or so and dang hungry by that time. anyway since tuesday i have an implanted gadget in my chest, keeps my beat above 50, good for 8 years before it needs replacing. im taking meds to try to keep the electrics in my heart more stable that it was, and am now quite restricted. no driving for 6 month, no lifting or arm raising for 4-6 weeks and the biggest downfall is NO WELDiNG, which brings up the questions. . . .
im not a welder, but i do use a plazma for cutting sheetmetal and i guess that will need to cease but the welding i do, is with a mig, and 99% of that is more like tack welds. . . .
do any of you have experience with these restrictions ? i would really like to hear from you if you do. . . . .
thanks for reading. . .and if its over tomorrow, i can say its been a GREAT ride.
davidh