Two and a half weeks

It has been two and a half weeks since my pacemaker was installed. My next appointment is at six weeks. I feel fine and am doing light gardening work. I just put a sports bra on and that is the most comfortable I have felt yet. Here's hoping it works.

I am wondering how much activity others have undertaken at this point in their recovery. It is hard to just sit around but I do worry that I am overdoing it. I walk a lot and am doing anything that does not require putting my arm above my head or behind my back.

5 Comments

In general

by KAG - 2014-06-18 01:06:01

you can slowly start to do what ever you want. Though the usual recommendation is to wait 6 weeks before you raise your site side arm above your shoulder, behind your back, and to start lifting more weight. But do move your arm to prevent frozen shoulder.

As long as you're feeling good getting back to your normal activities is great medicine. I started walking right away and by 4 weeks was pretty much back to my activities.

Sounds like you listen to your body, a very good thing. So I'd say to slowly increase what you're doing. We all heal differently so some can do things faster than the "average" advice they give you.

Kathy

Kathy

by Jardiniere - 2014-06-18 05:06:05

Thanks Kathy. I am doing that, although after about 45 minutes in my garden this afternoon, I felt a little funny so quit. I guess that will pass. Do you feel your pacemaker kicking in at times? I wonder if I am imagining that it is but I sometimes feel the way I did before the pm when I would think I might faint but now, just at that point when. I think I am going to have an episode, feel a little something and it passes. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

I am learning to live with this pm but still have anxious moments. Thanks.

It's pretty soon

by KAG - 2014-06-18 09:06:14

after your PM install. It takes time for you to heal and your body (and mind) to adjust to your new friend.

Yes, I'd say that early on I sometimes felt "funny" though in looking back I think a lot, if not all, of it was anxiety. Every time I did something "new" after implant, like drive, use the leaf blower, go out to dinner, go to my volunteer job, etc... my heart would race a bit and I'd feel a bit fluttery. Never felt like the PM pacing, no jolts or anything like that. I have total AV block so I'm 100% paced in my ventricle. At about 6 to 8 weeks I'd done enough things so I was feeling more confident and trusting the PM. Learning how and what the PM did helped me too.

I did have to get a small tweak to my upper track rate. My first walk up a hill I got SOB and lead legs. What was happening was my HR was hitting the UTR and the PM did what it was suppose to do and cut the pacing rate in half. They raised my UTR and I've been good since. Most times they send you out with average settings which can be to low for active folks.

It's good that you listened to your body. At this early in your healing I'd take it slow and if you feel OK then step your activities. As you said you're learning to live with your new little buddy.

Kathy

Thanks

by Jardiniere - 2014-06-19 09:06:52

Thanks for all comments. My emergency was caused by holter monitor recording total heart block for 15 seconds before my heart slowly started up again. Scary stuff when you consider yourself to be healthy. I get my next check up in three weeks and intend to ask how often my pm works. At first check, it was 6% and that may have changed.You can't know enough about your condition.

Exercising as usual after 5 weeks

by SandyG - 2014-07-04 07:07:16

Within a few days of my implant, I was gardening, but doing anything that required pushing, pulling, or lifting only with my right arm. I was "hitting walls" though, where I would feel great and then all of a sudden I couldn't go one more step. As time went on the walls came less often and were less vertical, but if my symptoms were any indication, I was in Stage 2 heart block for five weeks, and some sort of minor heart block for 30 years, so my body was probably healing all over now that it was getting proper blood flow. Your circumstances may be different. At 5 weeks, I went back to the gym. I did the weight machines for my lower body, and a few machines where I could lift with only my right arm. I am still not cleared for lifting more than 10 pounds with my left. I also did the treadmill, and got my heart rate up to 150 for 1/2 hour with no problem. The next day I did a Zumba class with my left arm in a sling to remind me not to swing it around.

Yesterday (at six weeks) I went to the cardiologist for a stress test, to adjust the pacemaker for exercise. I'm 52, and before they had discovered the heart block, I had been going to the gym regularly (despite pushing through symptoms that we now suspect was long-standing heart block). During the stress test, the doc mentioned how impressed he was that I was on a 12% incline and running 4.5 MPH. The tech said, "Well, she's FIT!" The cardiologist doesn't look like he embraces regular exercise, and so he always looks at me like I have three heads when I ask him about exercise, as if he's thinking, "You can walk from the couch to the dining room table... what's the problem?" LOL My cardiologist said no weight lifting ever, then ran out of the room, but when I queried the nurse, she said I could do moderate lifting with the machines after 12 weeks.

Anyway, that is the activity I've been doing. I guess the secret is to listen to your body. The left arm is the issue, until scar tissue builds up around your leads, which they tell me takes 12 weeks. The nurse told me they do get cemented in pretty good. Until then, I hike and Zumba with left arm down. I'm missing kayaking, though, and looking forward when 12 weeks is up!

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