Just to let you know......

I had a pacemaker / defibrellator inplanted last Fri. ( 2-3 ) and have been on "MEDS" since.... If during that time some of my posts have insulted anyone, I appologize. Blame it on the drugs... ( I will !!! ) Keep it between the white lines.....

Nope. You've been your usual gentlemanly self.

sympathy for the geezer!
or "aging ain't for sissies"

Take care of yourself Leon.
Best wishes, ERNIE

WOW, that's serious.

Funny story: the old man was dying but they kept him alive long enough for us to get to the bedside and have a last chat. When done, they "pulled the plug" and we were all expecting the EKG to run flat line and make that neat constant tone like on TV Hospital shows.

Heart never stopped beating, machine showed a regular pulse because of his pacemaker/defibrillator implant. We sat there and looked around and got bored and got some water and finally the nurse came back into his room and told us that he was dead.

Not quite what I expected.

My very dear bro in-law lasted 8 hrs after plug pulled and pacemaker turned off last April....on tough son of a gun,48 yrs old, died like he lived,STRONG! He had a malformed heart and open heart surgery first at 16 then twice more in later years,he literally wore his heart out. There was nothing left to work with,he said he was surprised everytime he woke up! Man he got more out of 24 hrs than anyone I've known.6 days before passing he wanted me to get an Oval VW to work on with one of his sons.My nephew and my sons are all going to werk on Speedy.

You take care Leon, live each day fully, advice I'm taking from my bro inlaw.

Hope the future TSA putdowns will compensate for you having to give up microwave popcorn during an entertaining tread. If the defibrillator kicks in just say you are practicing a new hip hop dance routine. Hang in there and keep a close eye on your reactions to your new meds.

On a positive note, you can cross irregular heartbeat off the list of things that might get'cha.

Seriously, man, I'm glad to hear you had that done. You're a trooper.

ICD's are a lifesaver. My family history on my father's side has had my great grandfather & grandfather die in their mid 60's from heart attacks. Not the kind of heart attacks you get from blocked arteries but rather interruptions in the electrical firing of the heart (sick sinus syndrome...and no, its not about your nose its about the sinus node in your heart which generates the electrical pulse to fire your heart in the right sequence).

My father started getting some atrial fib around the same time but, after several attempts to convert him to normal heartbeat they implanted an ICD.

Its been 10 years now. It has occasionally "paced" his heart when needed, and only jolted him twice. Once when he was at the driving range it gave him a zap. He walked home, went to his doctor, and there happened to be the manufactures rep at his office. A quick scan determined that a parameter was off so it was re-programmed (right through the skin).

The second time was last hear when it gave him a jolt while he was at home. This time he wasn't feeling right so he went to the hospital. He did have an electrical issue but the ICD did its job and corrected it. He has had no other issues since.

They are really an amazing piece of equipment. The jolts aren't that bad (in case you were wondering) and you never know when you are being paced.

My Dad is now 75 and still gets around just fine. He clearly would have been dead years ago if it was not for this device.

Sometimes it hard to appreciate the advances in science that have occurred. I probably would have known my great grandfather and would have had alot more memories of my grandfather if this device was available then.

Leon---This news was quite a surprise. You are a really fit guy but I guess that has little to do with the heartbeat rythym.
Glad you are back home and on the mend. Friends of mine who have received a pacemaker were absolutely amazed at how much better they felt after.

Hope you have a fast recovery! ---Jack

Outside of the pain from the incision and tissue displacement, it has not been toooo bad..... Pain is diminishing daily.... I've actually had no issues prior to the surgery other than a reduced "rejection factor".... And Ernie your right "It ain't for sissies"....

Thanks all... 8-)

Glad to hear you're doing ok, just think of it as your own personal electronic ignition!

Leon, my CBF (cracker brother forever)!!

Glad to hear your procedure went went well and that you mend back to a relatively normal life. You're one tough bastard, my friend. Looking forward to re-connecting with you at Carlisle!

Leon!

good to see everything is now back under control!

I've been lucky, I guess, that I've not had any problems with my heart.

My brother, on the other hand, died last Spring at 65 of a massive heart attack. He was fine one minute and keeled over the next and was dead as he hit the floor.

Given that (and he had no prior indications), I decided to pay for my own Heart scan a few weeks back, just to see if there was anything untoward going on in there, like a 90% blockage that I don't know about, just waiting for a quiet moment to fully clog.

So I go to the local hospital's imaging department and they prep me and get me on the scanner (a Big, Friggin, donutty-thing). First, they did a chest scan as a reference. No big deal. Then they put a catheter about the size of a small Oak tree in my arm, prep up something clear (I'm fully awake through all of this) and then tell me: "We'll be administering a trace chemical to make the heart tissue and arterial flow show up better on the imaging. You should feel a mild warmth as it's injected."

OK, I'm fine with that - whatever "mild warmth" means.

The tech zaps the syringe and, all of a sudden, it feels like molten lava has been injected into my forearm and within 10 seconds I could feel it spreading throughout my entire body and I really feel like I have to take a leak, RIGHT NOW!

Just as fast as that stuff spread, I could feel it waining and it was gone.

"Holy Shit! What the hell WAS that? It felt like the hot flashes my mother was always having!"

"Oh, you'll be OK. Your body absorbs it really quickly and the warming sensation will be gone in a minute."

Sure enough, in another minute everything was back to normal, even though my heart was thumping away for another minute or two.

Wow.

Anyway, I found out a week later that everything in there is "normal" with no blockages evident. Good thing, too, 'cause I'm not going through THAT again.

gn

Leon,
A step in the right direction, good to hear you're on the mend.

Leon....its "ejection fraction"...its the measurement on how efficient your heart empties itself between pumps. Most people are in the mid 50% range (some higher of course).

"Rejection factor" is how many times you are unsuccessful in picking up the ladies at your local tavern. Glad to hear yours was low! Mine was terribly high...thus the reason I got married.

Speedy recovery!

When Leon first told me about this I mentioned that my boss (just turning 50) has had one for years. Since losing almost 100 pounds he is now a serious (100 miles is nothing) cyclist and is in excellent condition. I expect to see Leon in the Tour de France in a couple of years.

Gordon's description of a heart cath is spot on..... I had two in the 80's.....One of mine was through the groin and wound up leaving me with a little suprise discovered in a recent exam.... An abdominal aortic aneursism (?)... Evidently the cath poked a hole in the linning of the aorta....Panicked all the doctors, so it was test, test, test......You know the result of all the testing..... So SOC is a lot of things including a great support group....

And now back to our regularly scheduled programing..... 8-)

Hey, Slash has one and he's still rocking. He also has a Beck Spyder. He should join this forum.

Be well, my friend. See you in Carlisle.
Hoss

Good for you Leon.
Good goin for you too Gordon

Hey Leon: That thing re-chargeable?

~WB

Im glad your OK! Leon.. Things like that are never easy..

Hey Leon . Tell them it's recharged by love. So go out and kiss a few girls, or just pester your wife for a recharge..

Leon,

So you've been Chenney-ized, is that it? Gotta be very thankful for the technology these days. Some of it is very useful, eh? Glad to hear you are on the mend, and have all systems running smooth and true.

Hope to see you soon, like in May in PA??

KElly

Yeah, but if you've been "Cheney-zed", make sure you don't go hunting with any Speedstah Guys!