It's 5 months since the unit was implanted and apart from occasional odd pains and twinges, it's settled relatively well. The last week has been uncomfortable and required painkillers for a while, but I had an appointment booked for Friday for my routine check, so I could chat it through with them then.
They had a good look at the site of the pacemaker, and were happy that there was no swelling, redness or any other signs for concern. The unit itself was checked to make sure the wires felt right and nothing seemed out of place. I expressed concern that the unit has moved about an inch to one side, in comparison to the scar. They confirmed that this is possible while it's all settling and as said before, my unit is sitting quite high and so it may cause discomfort, especially if knocked or if I lay on my left side. I have noticed recently that I seem to be sleeping more often on my left side and they agreed this could be the reason for my recent discomfort.
Then they attached the leads to my arms and legs and popped the 'mouse-like' unit on top of my pacemaker so they could check how it was working. I asked if they could tell how often it worked, being an on-demand pacemaker and they could. It seems it's the bottom half of my heart that needs help most often, and the pacing wire in the bottom half is working 22% of the time, however, after a few more tests they agreed this was more than necessary and that they would fine tune the pacing rate so that my natural heart beat could be allowed to happen more often without help, but the unit will always work when needed.
They also told me that on current levels of usage, the battery life is currently showing at 11-13 years, which is great. Means a long time before I need to go back in to surgery for it to be changed. Obviously, as my condition gets worse it will need to work more often, but now they have fine tuned it to work more effectively with my own heart beat it still looks good for a good number of years before I need a change.
So, that's it for a year. No more hospital appointments for 12 months.
The challenge for the year is to continue with my low saturated fat diet to control my cholesterol and to continue to ride my bike to keep my heart as healthy as possible.
This whole issue has been a real kick up the butt that I need to be more aware of what I eat and the exercise I do, so hopefully I have learned my lesson.
