New member with a new ICD

2 weeks into a new ICD and so far so good. Long story short, I'm 57 and in good health who has been a daily jogger for 20 years or so. Out of the blue a couple of months ago I went into VT while running and I thought I had came down with what I thought was flu type symptoms for about 20 hours before going to the ER. At no time did I have have any of the typical cardiac signs. Even the feeling of a rapid heart rate.

2 minutes into the ER and I was cardioverted (shocked) and all of sudden felt 100% again. Angiocath was performed and nothin was found. Doctor put me on Sotalol to keep me out of VT and over the course of a couple of months I went through various tests including a cardiac MRI.

Doctor recommend ablation procedure followed by an ICD if that wasn't successful. Unfortunately during the procedure the doctor found several cells causing the VT and wasn't able to perform an ablation. After talking it over I agreed to the ICD procedure the following day. Doctor felt it was a good insurance policy in case I have problems down the road.

Although it was certainly sore for a few days, it's now been 2 weeks and I have little or no pain. Keeping from raising my left arm
above my head is the only thing I'm dealing with now.

As for exercise, I'm walking 2 to 3 miles a day until the doctor gives me the go ahead to do anything more. Hopefully this new ICD wouldn't change my life to much. I'm still planning for various vacations later the year.


2 Comments

Sounds Great

by Good Dog - 2016-04-06 09:04:19

It sounds like you are off to a really good start. You seem to have a great attitude, which is 1/2 the battle. Don't let it slow you down!
You are a fine example of how things should go! I am sure you'll go on to lead a long and healthy life!

David

Welcome to the Club

by Lurch - 2016-04-07 02:04:51

The Electronically Enhanced Club....
I had an ICD installed about 23 months ago. I do not believe that the ICD has impacted my quality of life at all, except that I would no longer be eligible to obtain a Commerical Driver's License or a Pilot's Licence, but did not intend to do either. I still swim, use power tools, walk through metal detectors and do things that other people swear will make your device fry you from the inside!

The disease (heart failure) that precipitated my device does impact my quality of life, but that is another story.

Good luck, and again, welcome to the club.

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker interferes with your electronic scale.

Member Quotes

The pacer systems are really very reliable. The main problem is the incompetent programming of them. If yours is working well for you, get on with life and enjoy it. You probably are more at risk of problems with a valve job than the pacer.