I really had hoped this would be our last installment of the series, at least for a few months. However, as I’ve said before many times, you just can’t make this stuff up! Even if you try.

When we woke up the morning of Ben’s scheduled pacemaker upgrade and ablation procedure, all we could think about was, it was finally going to be over, at least for several years. He’d finally be saying a permanent goodbye to Afib, shortness of breath, and fatigue. It was going to be the end of a long and difficult journey.

We were so looking forward to getting this all behind us.

But still I had this nagging feeling in the back of my mind, and I ignored it. After all, what could go wrong? We’d been though enough already.

The surgery was scheduled for 9:00 and we got to the hospital right on time at 7:30. Although the Heart Center was packed, we were taken back fairly quick to begin the pre-surgical prep. After all of the various procedures we’d gone through, we fairly well knew the routine and were able to mentally check off each step in our minds.

One difference this time was having the pacemaker specialist come in to check Ben’s current pacemaker and download the information from it to put into the new one. (Never thought about that!) We asked questions about the new device and how it basically worked, since we hadn’t had the opportunity previously.

The tech said that like the one Ben currently had, it monitored the heart to keep it in rhythm, but also would monitor when he went into Afib, and would deliver a shock to the heart to put it back in rhythm when necessary. Yes, he would feel it, but most likely he could tell when it was going to happen because he’d feel somewhat light headed already from the Afib. And it wouldn’t be anything like the shock of the paddles that are used when the patient is unconscious or needs to be resuscitated, since this one shocks directly through the heart and doesn’t have to go through clothing, chest muscle, etc. to get to the heart itself.

He told us, “It’s sort of like going from a car to a diesel truck!” Well, I think we could relate to that. At least it gave a good visual.

When Ben’s surgeon came in for a final discussion before surgery he explained again that he was going to do the pacemaker change-out and would then do a complete ablation so that the pacemaker would be totally in charge of the heart keeping a proper rhythm.

The new pacemaker would also communicate its daily activity via WiFi through a monitor on his night stand and the readings would go to the doctors’ office daily. He’d have regular 6 month checkups to be sure it was working properly. And that it would require a battery change about every 5 years. We’d know in advance when it needed changing with the monitoring and the regular checkups.

Well, he’d had his current one for five years and it was still working properly, so that sounded fine.

The doctor explained he would also be doing a venogram before they started so as to be sure the veins were clear and open so the pacemaker could be properly installed in place of the other one. If the veins weren’t in good condition he would have to install the new one on the other side of the chest, a somewhat different procedure. For that reason, Ben would be awake during the venogram so they could discuss any change of plans necessary, as he would have to consent to the change in procedure.

So we were ready. Time to get it all done! By that time our daughter had arrived and we said goodbye and good luck to our patient, and went out to wait the two hours or so it would take.

And as planned, the first thing done in the OR was the venogram, and the doctor was pleased with the results. Ben remembers hearing him say everything looks good to go, so let’s get started! That’s the last thing he remembers til he woke up a few hours later.

And I got the phone call from the nurse two hours later that the surgery was over and went well; Ben was in the recovery area; and the doctor would be out in 15-20 minutes to talk to us. I was relieved, to say the least!

Finally all this was behind us.

Or so we thought.

Until I talked to the doctor.

The first words out of his mouth were “we weren’t able to put the new pacemaker in.” And he looked very upset.

What?

He quickly went on to explain that although the venogram was fine, once they opened Ben up and got ready to put the new device in, he discovered because of the way the old pacemaker had been put in, he wasn’t able to run the wires properly for the new one without risking the veins breaking.

So they had to re-implant the old one. Ben would now require another surgery in 30 days in which the new pacemaker would be inserted on the right side and then the existing one on the left would be disabled. Since Ben was already under anesthesia, he wasn’t able to give consent to the different procedure at that time. and they also had to allow time for healing before they went back in.

The good thing, though, was that the doctor had been able to do the ablation, so the Afib should be gone, at least until the new pacemaker was implanted. And I will say, the doctor did not look happy about the change in plans for his patient.

Neither was I, and I knew Ben wouldn’t be either.

I really didn’t know what to say, and I’m sure I haven’t explained all of this properly. I was too shocked to completely take it all in. All I could think was, after all this…we still had to wait…

More to come in Matters of the Heart, Part 25.