1st -Three month checkup

Haven't posted in awhile after a small flurry of posts (and replies) after my PM implant on 11/14. I have had no problems or concerns to speak of, and next week I'm seeing the tech from Biotronic for the first time since my one week check. I understand I won't even see my doctor at this visit. So what can I expect?

1. Is he going to report directly to me what the data are indicating, or is this all for the benefit of my doc?

2. Will he "download" data from my PM, or will he have data that were sent from the messenger unit that sits on my nightstand? Or both?

3. What do I want to be sure to ask or know about before I leave the exam?

Thanks for whatever pointers anyone might have.

2 Comments

they're all different

by Tracey_E - 2009-02-16 10:02:00

Every office handles it differently but I only ever see my technician. If there's a problem or something major to reprogram, he'll run it by the doc before doing it but he does little tweaks without the dr's input. He tells me what he finds. Not sure if he's supposed to or not but I've had the same rep for 15 yrs now and we're friendly.

I don't have a thing at home to check in so for me they get it all when I'm there. It tells them everything since my last visit. I would imagine they'd have the reports from the phone checks.

Ask for a copy of the before and after report so you can see what changes they made. If you have any questions, write them down so you don't forget to ask.

Checkup

by SMITTY - 2009-02-18 08:02:09


Hello Mayor,

I'll try to offer a little about what you can expect. You will see that I'm repeating each of your questions. I do this so that I can keep up with what I'm trying to answer.

1 - "I understand I won't even see my doctor at this visit." As Tracey said, this is not unusual. So far as I know, most of us seldom see the doctor, unless we are reporting a problem.

2 - "So what can I expect?" I say expect to have the nurse/technician tell you "the pacemaker is working fine." At least that is what I usually hear.

3 - "Is he going to report directly to me what the data are indicating, or is this all for the benefit of my doc?" I think a lot depends on the doctor and their confidence in the person doing the checkups. I'm sure the doctor would not want to nurse/technician giving out erroneous information so this one I have no answer for. Whether your doctor tell you anything or not depends on the doctor and what they find during the checkup. I like to think of being told nothing as "no news is good news."

4 - "Will he "download" data from my PM, or will he have data that was sent from the messenger unit that sits on my nightstand? Or both?" I'm not familiar with the brand of pacemaker you have, but I would say that if it has stored data since the last checkup that will be downloaded and the memory cleared for more data storage. I do telephone checkups every 6 months and the data obtained from those is in my file but it is never discussed with me. I'm sure any data they have from the messenger on you nightstand will be in your file, but I would not expect anything to be mentioned unless it was very important. That will just be more data in your file.

5 - "What do I want to be sure to ask or know about before I leave the exam?" So far as I know there are no magic questions. Especially since you say you have no problems. I most certainly agree with Tracey about asking for a copy of any printout they make of your checkup. If you are like most of us you will not understand much of it, but in my case I see a different nurse/technician almost every checkup and like to have a copy incase changes are made and "they forget" to tell me of the change. All of my reports are in plain English and I can tell if there is a change in any of the numbers. In fact my reports specifically identify any change that was made. But as I think back,I don't recall a single time that I was told "I have changed so and so on your pacemaker." My guess is there are several reasons for that with one of them being they probably think I wouldn't know what they were talking about or the change was so minute it will never be noticed, but that person thought it would make the operation of my PM better.

One last word. If you are like most of us you will be tense. Honestly there is no need for that. If you feel that something has been done that you want to know about, sing out. Most of the time you will get an answer, or the PM will be returned to the original Above all,don't leave there thinking I had asked what was done when I felt so and so.

Good luck,

Smitty

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