Pacemaker Check

In December of 2006 my love was fitted with a two chamber pacemaker. Until that time we had heard of pacemakers and had some idea of what they did, but that was about all. After several conversations with people who had one, including the anesthesiologist who participated in the implantation, we learned much more.

The pacemaker has several functions, at least in our case. It monitors and records every beat of two chambers in the heart as well as recording respiratory rates. The respiratory rate tells the cardiologist the level of physical activity of the patient. A pacemaker is actually a little, powerful computer that operates on a battery. When the battery runs down, it must be surgically replaced.



Today we went for a download of the information the pacemaker had recorded since our last download 6 months ago. Here you can see the handsome patient sitting quietly while a circular sensor hangs loosely over where his pacemaker is implanted in his upper chest. The downloads are done twice a year, but the powerful on board memory has stored every beat and breath since its installation 12/06.



Here you can see the pacemaker technician monitoring the downloaded information. Based on what he sees, he makes any necessary adjustments. For example - how frequently an electrical surge is delivered to each chamber, the strength of the electrical prompt, as well as the desired pulse rate. If the patient's heart rate should dip below the chosen setting, the pacemaker stimulates the heart to beat up to the appropriate rate. Ours had been set to 60 beats/minute. After consulting with the cardiologist, a specialist in Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology, the rate was reset to 50.



I must apologize, this is not a very good shot. We were so very fortunate to find Dr. Edward N. Shen. In this photo Dr. Shen was dictating his notes after his visit with us. Physicians in our past have dictated notes while we were around and took about 90 seconds. Dr. Shen dictated for about 10 minutes! Every once in a while he would turn around and ask us a question to be certain his notes were correct. What a great doc! Each time we have moved we had to find a new cardiologist. Putting your heart in someone else's hands can be a little unsettling. We have been so fortunate to find the very best in each place we have set down our temporary roots. It is great to know that this, our final retirement destination, has wonderful professionals like Dr. Shen.