Pacemaker

Bailey's scheduled to receive a pacemaker on Thursday, Feb. 8th. This is not a bad thing. Her heart function and PA pressures are good. The problem she has is a tendency for her heart to fall out of rhythm. It's done so twice since she's been off the Berlin Heart. Her sinus (sp?) node (which keeps the heart in rhythm) is damaged with scar tissue and is unable to repair itself. Just before our trip to Germany, her heart fell out of rhythm. They cardioverted her and had to double one of her medicines which then caused fatigue and swelling around her belly. She did a stress test last week on the treadmill and after 9 minutes of peak exercise, her heart only went up to 120 beats per minute (normal is around 200). So, the pacemaker will do 2 things: it will sense when she's exerting herself and will get her heart beating quicker, and it will keep her heart rate from falling below a certain level which should keep her heart from falling out of rhythm. If it would fall out of rhythm, the kind of pacemaker they are putting in can, in some patients, help get the heart back into rhythm without a cardioversion.

So, see! This is good news. As negative as this may sound, I have asked lots of questions and looked all over the internet for "the bad" side of this and just can't find one. The procedure is only 2 hours and an overnight stay. Dr. T said he could get us "in and out in . . . say . . . 4 months". Ha!

The WFMS radiothon is the following day (Fri., Feb. 9th), and Bailey is scheduled to be on the air with Mimi from 4-5:00, so get your pledges ready to call in!

I'll report more later. Please send good thoughts and prayers our way on the 8th!

Love to all,
Angie