Curt gets a cardiac pacemaker

The beeping of the vitals' machine I was attached to was annoying. It started beeping when my pulse dropped below 40 beats per minute (normal is 60-100). I watched my pulse drop … 38 … 32 … 29. Plus it would skip a beat now and then. Uh, oh.

That was the reason I was in the hospital at Southeast Iowa Regional Medical Center in Burlington. I had gone to a physical therapy session at the hospital. I was doing physical therapy for a balance issue I was having. And the therapists seemed to be making progress curing my lightheadedness and wobbly legs. However, on this day, when I reported in, feeling dizzy to start with (they don't like the term “dizzy” or “vertigo”), the therapist checked my pulse. It was 36. “Yikes,” she said. “No wonder you're feeling woozy. I'm calling cardiology.”

I've always had a low BP and pulse due to my aerobic exercise. But not that low!

Much to my embarrassment, I was wheeled to the emergency room and admitted to the hospital. My ER Doc was a person I knew from church, Brandon Beauchamp. It was comforting to see someone I knew and liked. Small world. The heart doctor, Dr. Lazar, was friendly and radiated confidence. After studying my echocardiogram, he said, “Curtis, you need a pacemaker. Would tomorrow fit your schedule?”

“It would,” I said, “but call me Curt, please.” And that was that.

Ginnie just missed seeing the doctor because she had to have her hair appointment before coming to see me. She likes to maintain that “Uma” look from Quentin Tarantino's, “Pulp Fiction.” Fine by me.

The surgery was simple. Only a local anesthetic and light sedation were used. The pacemaker is about the size of the crystal on my watch. It was inserted in a “pouch” just under the skin by my left collarbone. Wonders upon wonders, my pulse straightened right out, tacking along at a cool 72 bpm, with no skips. They're telling me I will feel a lot better and have more energy. Yippee!

I'm somewhat amazed that I have heart issues, considering all the aerobic exercise I've participated in over the years: running, biking, swimming, which included marathons and triathlons. Most recently, when I kept stumbling and falling while running, I switched my morning workouts to the elliptical machine. I was convinced I was living a heart-healthy lifestyle. Shows-to-go me.

But my low pulse problem, wobbly legs and lightheadedness were not from any inner ear problem, arterial blockage or heart weakness. It was an intermittent blockage of the electrical signal from the atrium to the ventricle. My 75-year-old heart was losing its conductivity and needed a little boost, or jump start.

So, if you're creeping up there in age, and having lightheadedness, and wobbly legs (50% of elderly do), see your doctor. The first thing my doctor did was order a CT scan of my brain. Then he had me do a neuro-cognitive evaluation along with physical therapy. It was at physical therapy where the low pulse rate (bradycardia) reared its sluggish head, but put me on the path to recovery.

Looking back, it's a good thing this happened while I was at physical therapy, just a wheelchair ride from ER. I was lucky. Or was it Divine Intervention?

At home, I'm supposed to take it ez with the exercising for the first month. I've never been a nice-and-easy kind of guy. It's usually all-or-nothing. But, it is my heart, the only one I have, and I have mellowed with age. Besides, I need to keep Uma happy. I'd rather have a pacemaker than a widowmaker. February is Heart Month.

Have a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com.

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