Lifted Restrictions???

Hi everyone!
My little one will be 5 in June--he has had a pacemaker since he was 18 months (1 1/2 years old)--due to 3rd degree heart block. Anyway, I was initially told by his cautious EP that sports would be very restricted--tennis, swimming, track were okay, but no contact sports or even sports with "incidental" contact, like baseball or basketball. Well, last month, the EP had changed his mind due to new statistics on incidental contact. He now says that any non-contact sports are okay on a limited basis. I trust his professional judgement, but what do you guys think based on your experience??? I signed him up for T-ball, but I'm having trouble "letting go" in light of what we have been through. (His pacemaker is located in his abdomen, and he has no other structural issues with his heart--it's just his AV node, so he's not completely "pacemaker dependent", per se.) I don't want to "bubble wrap" him, but I don't want to regret my decision in the future if there is reason to hold back, either.
Any thoughts? Encouragements? Prayers for my sanity???
Thanks everybody!
Harry's Mommy

3 Comments

Understandable

by ElectricFrank - 2008-02-04 02:02:02

Your feelings are sure understandable. I guess it's our nature as parents. With the pacer in his abdomen it is much more protected than right under the skin like most of us get. Even there they seem pretty rugged. You may not have seen my post from a week or so ago where I mentioned slipping on a rock and falling flat on my left side with a camera between the ground and my pacer site. It took quite a bang, but doesn't seem any worse for it. So far I have never see any posts here about pacer damage.
Anyway, with a 5 year old there is no way to prevent rough activity and it is only going to get worse no matter what you do. Just try to keep him away from football, etc. I wouldn't want a son doing that pacer or not.

good luck,
frank

What would you want?

by heckboy - 2008-02-04 10:02:38

I'm a father of a teenage jock that has lived for sports for as long as he could stand. I can't imagine his life if he was deprived of playing, so if it were me, i would look into whatever protection I could find for his PM in the form of extra padding and let him go. A recent post mention as site for sport armour... do a little digging and you'll find it.

Keep in mind that basketball has far more contact than you might think.

My experience

by pacerpacer - 2008-02-04 11:02:29

I was implanted PM as a 5 yr old boy(now i am 30). During that time pm were not able to provide variable HR. So mine was set at 90 ppm. I had restrictions in form of running and other sports which may require significantly high HR. After age of 17 I got variable HR PM.
To damage a pacemaker the blow required should be very powereful (may be as high as to break a teeth). I hv experinced few blows to my pm area during last 25 years (no matter how hard u try to escape they will come) but fortunately none of them was powerful enough. So my opinion is to get some good padding around, and with this the little boy will be able to play all excluding sports like boxing, football...

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