Hi, I am Chapter, female, and will be 64 in a couple of weeks.
On November 21st, I was scheduled for Carpal Tunnel surgery at local hospital. Within a few minutes of being connected to monitors my surgery was cancelled and I was transferred to emergency department. My husband was brought from waiting room and I was soon connected to everything they had. It was a very surreal situation as I guess you all know. My blood pressure was 231/105 and my heart rate was down to 32. Was not long before their expected diagnosis was confirmed by Cardiologist in a city 5 hours away - I needed a Pacemaker asap. Was scheduled for air ambulance to get me there, but our little local airport does not have fancy equipment and because the whole valley was socked in, I had to wait for two days for flight. On the 24th, I had Pacemaker surgery. So apparently I have Heart Block which I understand means the messsages just weren’t getting through. I have 2 leads and my rate is set at minimum 60bpm, which is common?? During the surgery which they said would not be painful, I thought I may be having a heart attack because my left arm was very sore, but no one else seemed to worried. I was in for a couple days after surgery because my lung was punctured during surgery.
Now, almost 5 weeks in, my incision is looking good and I am still alive so that is all good.
I still have a sore shoulder and get pains in my upper arm. I can feel some butterfly’s in my upper chest, which I am sure will get use to. The lower lead gives some pretty good jolts. If I lay on my left side they are very noticeable and can take my breath away. My husband asked me what I was doing because he could feel it. The doctors said I wouldn’t feel anything and if I did it would be miner and would get use to it. Have an appointment on January 10th at PM Clinic so hoping they can adjust or something.
I was diagnosed with Lupus 7 years ago and that was pretty surreal at the time, but have adjusted to the life. I asked doctors what caused Heart Block and did it have anything to do with my Lupus. Of course being Cardiologists they were not concerned with Lupus, and said the Block was an electrical problem and had nothing to do with Lupus. I have since read that it is a rare association but also that if a heart block is diagnosed the patient should be tested for Lupus.
Anyway, this is way to long a post for a newbie here, but any info and advise from people that have gone through this would be very welcome.
Happy New Year
Thank you for reading,
Chapter
