Pacemaker: Surgery #2

You know, I never seem to do things easilyJ.  I suppose it’s these times in my life that make me who I am.  Right?  This experience at the hospital was different from the first but also similar in many ways.  I didn’t sleep like last time, but this time I didn’t faint.  We ran into the obstacles like the last experience but this time it was different, this time I had much more peace about it. 

The first and biggest obstacle was that the surgery did not fix the twitching issue.  I remember feeling the sensation again after the surgery, but I didn’t freak out or get upset.  Why?  Well, I believe because there were a lot of people praying for me and I took a different perspective on this hospital visit than the first, if you’ll remember from my last post I talked about allowing Christ to be my strength instead of me trying to be strong.  I really think this helped. 

But, I told my doctor I was having the issue again and he wanted me to just give it a little time because he thought for sure the surgery would have fixed the problem.  So we did, but then came obstacle #2.  I kept setting off the alarm at the nurses’ station!  I actually set it off three times.  Something in my pacemaker made my heart beat jump up after I would make a slight movement in my bed.  I would reposition myself in my bed and all of the sudden my heart would be up around 100-130 or so.  My nurse runs in and asks me if I’m okay and I was, but I felt the twitching much more during these episodes; it became more like a pounding sensation than a twitch that I could actually feel out of my chest. 

So after 3 times of this my nurse convinced my doctor at 10:30 pm to send someone from the pacemaker device clinic.  So this nice looking man came in and played around with my pacemaker on the computer and got it so it wouldn’t race anymore when I made a slight movement.  He tried to work out the twitching problem, but said a couple of his colleagues and the doctor would be in in the morning to see what we could do.  The doctor came in and he wanted to run some extra tests to see if my heart had enlarged like it did when I was 11 and that might be part of the problem.  Thankfully it hadn’t.  The right side was a bit larger but nothing to be concerned about.  So after some more playing around with the pacemaker on their little computer we got the pacemaker to a place where I no longer felt the twitching.  At least, I didn’t at the time.  I actually do feel it still when I lay down at times but it is faint and nothing compared to what it was.  However, my doctor said if it continued he would have to consult other doctors on this because he was stumped.  One of the device guys said I might be feeling it because I’m so young and have good nerves.  I don’t know.  Right now, I'm just going to tell him, I'll live with it! 

I’m thankful I was able to still go home the day after the surgery.  I’m still a bit tired but I can see myself gaining a little more strength each day.  I also do not have near the pain or swelling I have the first time.  This definitely makes things easier!  I’m hoping that within the next two weeks or so I’ll be back to experiencing the same levels of energy and alertness I was a few weeks ago when things were going well.

Michael and I greatly appreciate your prayers.  I truly believe prayer is powerful and does something!  God has been so good to us.  I can’t wait to be Andrea again…and even a better Andrea than before because God has taught me and done so much over the past few months in my heart and life.  I’m excited.  Whatever happens in my life, good or bad, I know He’s in control and I can trust Him along the way…even when surgeries don’t fix things.  J To God be the glory!