Pacemaker Time for Me

My health has been in some decline for the last ten months.

For the last decade, my 1st degree AV Node heart block has been worsening.  Recent symptoms in the last ten months have included: shortness of breath with mild exertion, lightheaded experiences, weakness, slow heartbeat episodes (Bradycardia), skipped heartbeats, fatigue, occasional dizziness, chest pains, feeling uncomfortable and very anxious at times, etc.   I have worn an exterior heart monitor for a few months last year, and now have an electronic heart monitor chip implanted in my chest.

Two weeks ago my new cardiologist from Peace Health Hospital in Vancouver reviewed my case.   A few days later, technicians brought up all the data results from my implanted heart monitor.  The results were very bad. My heartbeat was falling at times to 40, 30, and even 20 heartbeats per minute.

Last week, I met with the electro-cardiologist physician and associated team. Four doctors, including my cardiologist of the last 15 years in Redding, CA, all recommend I have a Pacemaker implanted.  Without the surgery to implant a Pacemaker, my death would come much sooner rather than later.  

The 2 hour Pacemaker implant surgery is scheduled for Wednesday morning, June 7th, 2017.  Dr. Yamac Gungor is the electro-cardiologist who will do the surgery.

Since I am now 71 years old, I must, like all other older people, deal with health setbacks as best I can.  I have been told the surgery is typically uncomplicated, and the results typically are very positive for the patient.  Hopefully, this will be the case for me.

My wife and I pay $550 per month for health insurance, not including the cost for medicines.  Hopefully, we will not have a huge expense for this surgery.