Here at Heart Sisters World Headquarters, I’m often contacted by readers with impertinent questions like: “Why don’t you ever write about ______?” (insert your own specific diagnosis here). One in particular was a 2015 reader question that read: “Why don’t you ever write about congenital heart defects?” On that particular morning, I was feeling tired, sick and “grumpy” (as our little Everly Rose calls every feeling she has that’s not happy). I wanted to snap back at this reader that I’m not running the Encyclopedia Britannica here…
But in a remarkable coincidence – and luckily before I had a chance to snap – on that very day, another reader named Aletha happened to share with me http://www.hookupdate.net/nudistfriends-review her own amazing story as an adult living with a heart condition she’d had since birth. That weekend, I ran my first ever blog post about this cardiac condition, called “ When babies with congenital heart defects grow up“.
And recently, a similar reader contact reminded me that I’ve never covered the topic of cardiac pacemakers – until now.
There are many credible sources of clinical information about what cardiac pacemakers do and who needs them (the Ottawa Heart Institute, for example, has a solid patient-friendly guide).
Basically, a pacemaker is a small device that’s placed in the chest or abdomen to help control abnormal heart rhythms by usin g steady elec trical pulses to prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate again. Someti mes, this little device is a dual-purpose lifesaver, functioning as both pacemaker and ICD ( implantable cardioverter defibrillator ). This cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) can be delivered as a pacemaker only, or in combination with an ICD. Continue reading “Hello pacers! A little Q&A about your pacemaker”