It’ll be four years since I was admitted into Honor Health hospital for low heart rate. After fainting three times in a row the day before, my heart rate was in the 30s. I was in my early 30s- how could this be happening?
There were weeks and months of cardiac tests after that hospital visit. I had pericarditis, a heart inflammation that led to the hospital stay. Even when that recovered, my heart fully did not.
I remember waking up one night to the nurses trying to “revive” me. The lights were bright. Monitors were going off. I grabbed one of the nurses hand to ask her if I was alive. The hospital discharged me the next day. What if it happens again? I don’t have nurses at home. But in August of that year, I had a Medtronic LinQ heart recorder inserted. I was at ease. Someone was watching my heart. My slow heart.
I was diagnosed with bradycardia on every EKG. My resting heart rate was 45-50 on a good day. The word pacemaker was tossed around more than a few times.
I’ve been with Medtronic for going on 13 years in May. I know everything about pacemakers. I’ve heard the patient stories. I advocate for the patients when I call my suppliers. But to get one implanted was a thought beyond belief. Since we’re in allocation mode, surely there’s someone who deserves one more than me.
On Jan 3, 2023 I was admitted into Arizona Heart Hospital, low rate and the new thing- low blood pressure. When will this end? Dizzy spells on a daily basis. Feeling tired all the time. Chest pain when I run after my daughter in the park. I’m only 35. I should have more energy.
For various reasons, I spent the last two weeks in bed. Wondering when I will feel normal again, to top it off, I had to hear my daughter say “I want my mommy back.” Way to start off the new year.
Well, she not only has her mommy back but an improved one. I received a Medtronic Azure single chamber pacemaker this week.
When I woke up from anesthesia, my EKG showed a heart rate of 59. I thought the EKG was for the person in the next bay, not me. Every time I glanced at the monitors, I thought I was dreaming - 59, 62, 74, 68. Maybe I was hallucinating from the morphine. My EKG prior to surgery was 44.
At 4pm the nurse wanted me to walk. I was scared. Of course, I’ll have some sort of dizziness. Some sort of fatigue, right? I was under anesthesia for crying out loud- no way I will feel different.
But I was wrong. I felt 23 again. No dizziness. No fatigue. I couldn’t even feel the scar from the medicine I was on. When I realized this was my new reality, I cried. I cried out of pure happiness. Pure relief. I wasn’t dreaming.
I was diagnosed with chronotropic incompetence, the inability for my heart rate to increase with my physical activity. The pacemaker measures where my heart rate is supposed to be and if it’s lower, will send electrical signals to adjust it to the optimal rate. My dizziness would happen before because I would stand up and my heart rate wouldn’t raise above 60 when it needed to be. Now, not even three hours after my implant and all the symptoms that I had deemed as normal, were gone.
Medtronic vows to “Alleviate Pain, Restore Health and Extend Life” amongst other things. Our patients come first in every decision, design or practice we do.
Medtronic restored my health. I’ve spent the last thirteen years living out the mission and advocating for patients. Advocating for all but one patient, me. Grateful is an understatement. Grateful for those who found innovative ways to make this smaller with a longer battery life. Grateful for our suppliers to provide the components we needed when we needed them. Grateful for my peers for not giving up on the suppliers that said “no we can’t ship that.” Grateful for all the manufacturing team members for handling each component or device with care as if it’ll go in their own heart.
It’s easy to know technically what we do at Medtronic. It’s easy to get excited over innovation and the engineering that is accomplished. But for each patient, it’s about getting a second chance at life, living without pain or being able to chase after her daughter without feeling tired.
My low heart rate controlled the limits for what I could or couldn’t do in my life. Now, the only measure is living out what my heart desires.
