Seven years ago today I was sliced and diced. Well, okay, maybe not that bad. However, I had an inch and a half incision cut in my chest so that I could have my original pacemaker/defibrillator removed and a new one put in. The battery to the original one was on the verge of expiring and they swamped units so that I wouldn’t be on the verge of expiring. 🙂
Now, I have about six months left before the battery to this unit expires so that means I probably have about four months left before another surgery to replace this unit.
Some of you might be thinking that I have a small unit because I should get more years out of one. You’d be wrong. I have a regular-sized unit implanted. The only thing is that, because of one of the conditions of my heart (it “unwired” many years ago and beats backward) they give me medication to slow down my heart and the pacemaker paces me pretty much 100% of the day. Thus, a fifteen year battery lasts me about seven and a half years due to consistent use.
Technology is wonderful, though. Without my two units — and soon a third one — I wouldn’t have to worry about beating backwards. I’d be “somewhere else”.