R went to the cardiologist this week and got a great report. As you may know, she had a successful repair of her AVSD as an infant (3 months) which left her with complete heart block. R's pacemaker is a DDD. It paces the upper and lower chambers to give her optimal filling and pumping - a heart that beats efficiently. Most people with complete heart block have an underlying junctional rhythm or escape rhythm where the ventricle will beat at a slower rate than normal on its own. R has no underlying rhythm. When they turn her pacemaker off, her heart just sits there. She has no safety net. If her pacemaker (single ventricular lead) fails, she will die.
The good news is that her pacemaker generator (battery) has at least 18 months and as much as three years to go!
The good news is that with her next generator replacement, she will get a biventricular pacemaker. The biventricular pacemaker has the ability to pace both ventricles - no more complete dependence on one ventricular lead. She will have a safety net!
Not that I'm looking forward to her undergoing yet another procedure but I look forward to having that safety net. We've experienced atrial (upper chambers) lead failure. We know leads crack and break. We would like to avoid a devastating event.
More good news. R has grown an inch and only gained two pounds in the last eight months!
1 comment:
Very glad you got this great report! And what a blessing such medical advances as the new pacemakers and defibrillators are.
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