On September 20th of this year I got fitted with a pacemaker. I know, weird hey. Here's what happend.
Three months after my son was born I started to faint. I called them fits as my arms and legs were shacking and my eyes were doing sommer salts in my head. In the beginning I had several fits a day, for several weeks on end. The doctor tried to tell me I had a salt shortage. But adding more salt to my diet didn't work.
Eventually he reffered me to a neurologist at the hospital. After some tests (a headscan and a test where they checked my brainwaves), they found that I did have some irregularrities in my brain but not enough to officially diagnose me with epilepsy.
At the time the fits were almost gone. Just a few per year. So I didn't have any more tests done.
November last year things changed again. I got more and more fits. Sometimes even several times a week. I started to write them down. With what I ate, was doing when it happend, how my mood was, all that kind of stuff. But it didn't seem to matter. There wasn't a pattern to be noticed. So off to the hospital I was again.
They did the same tests as last time and this time my new neurologist didn't see anything.
She decided to send me on to a special clinic which specializes in epilepsy. They had a waiting list so in the meantime she wanted to to rule out everything else.
So off I went to get my heart checked. I first had an ultra sound of my heart. That was all good. Then I had to have 5 stickers on my chest which were attached to a machine thingy that I had to carry around for 24 hours. A week later I was back at the hospital to get the results. I didn't think much of it. It was just a formality. But I was shocked to hear that the doctor thought I needed a pacemaker. I started laughing. What else could I do? The doctor asked whether I knew anything about pacemakers. I told him I thought it was something elderly people got. He explained some things about the pacemaker and showed me one.
I would have my operation on Monday Sept 20th. I had to be in hospital on Sunday afternoon. My son, parents and bestie took me there. I got settled in and they went home. I had taken a book and some pens and paper with me to pass the time.
I shared my room with 3 elderly men. All over 70. But they were very nice. I noticed as the day went into evening I did get rather nervous. I withdrew. A nurse came to take all our bloodpressures and give the men their meds. She asked me how I was feeling and I broke. I started to cry and told her I was quite scared.
The man in the bed next to me came over and calmed me down. Turned out, he too had a pacemaker. He told me about the operation. That did calm me abit. I was offered some meds to help me sleep but I didn't take them. I regretted that in the morning as I slept really bad! Hardly slept at all really.
I was first on the list the next morning. This time I did decided to take a pill to relax me alittle before the operation.
I would be awake during the operation. They would give a local anaesthesia. I was so very very cold. I was really shaking.
That morning my son had a school trip and he'd asked me to wave at 9.15am. So I asked the nurse to tell me when it was that time. I explained why and she thought it was very sweet.
They covered me with a blue sheet and also had one from my chin up towars the ceiling. The doctor came in and started the operation. My hands were laid down next to my body and I wasn't allowed to move them. One of the nurses told me that it was 9.15am. I waved with my hand apparently the nurses waved too. The doctor needed some explaining though LOL.
There were quite some nurses in theatre to help the doctor out. One of them was a male nurse. He was lovely. He was also the person who did the ultrasound of my heart. I'm probably gonna see him more often as he'll do my pacemaker check ups. Already looking forward to it. LOL
The operation was quite odd to experience. You can feel everything but it doesn't hurt. Some things are uncomfortable. Only the stitching up was a bit painfull.
At one point I felt a tingling feeling in my left arm. When I mentioned that the doctor said that it was because the were putting one of the wires through a vein that also went to my left arm. Then I felt a massive lump in my throat. it was actually quite difficult to breath. When I told the doctor this, he said it was because they were testing the electrodes. I asked if I could see the pacemaker before it went into my body. The lovely male nurse showed it to me whilst it still being in the plastic package. he told me: "This will go into your body, after it's taken outof the plastic package of course." The other nurses and myself had a little giggle.
The pacemaker is fitted on the right side, just below the collarbone. It's just underneath the skin and quite visable. But I don't mind. The scare has healed quite nicely. It's still quite red, but that will go as the years go on. It's quite weird having something in your body that shouldn't be there. I can hold it and even move it around. It don't it often as I'm scared the wires will come off. I can feel one of the wires coming from under my collarbone.
After I was taken back to my room The put my right arm in sling. I wasn't allowed to use it and had to have bedrest. My parents, son and bestie came to see me in the evening. It was good to have the distraction.
I also had fun with my roommates. We had some nice discussions. We had fun!
I was allowed to go home on Tuesday morning. I needed help with almost everything. I could do some things with my arm. As long as I didn't have to lift my arm higher then chest hight. So slowly as the days went on it got better and better. But it wasn't untill nearly 3 weeks later that I had the full use of my arm back.
I went back to work 3 weeks after the operation. I feel good now. I can do everything again. And according to the doctor I can do everything I want to.
Tomorrow I'll have my first check up. I reckon all is well.
I'll let you know.
