As I write this we are only a few days from another heart procedure for Ben.
Last November we discovered there were only a few months of battery life on his pacemaker. You know, the device that’s keeping him alive.
And now on Thursday morning he will be undergoing a surgical procedure to remove one of his existing pacemakers and replace it with a brand new, and most likely updated, pacemaker with a brand new battery. His other one is non-functioning, but unable to be removed because of the way it was implanted ( and not by his current doctor).
The last time we went through this was around 5 years ago. We’d hoped the battery would last around 7 years or so, but obviously the pacemaker has been working a bit harder than we’d thought, so as of right now there’s probably only about a months’ worth of battery life on this existing one.
Therefore, the need for surgery to replace it just three days before his birthday. What a birthday present he’s getting!
I must say it’s a bit unnerving to think about how the device that’s keeping him alive is slowly losing its battery life. We all are used to seeing how quickly the battery life of our cell phones seems to go down, and we panic when we hit that 10% mark, because we just can’t live without our phones!
I would say that analogy has a different meaning when we think about a pacemaker implanted in the body of ourself or a loved one. There’s no way to hook that device up to a charger at night and receive a full or even half charge by morning.
Who knows, though? Maybe technology over the years will improve to the point that can actually be done.
However, for now, we’re still waiting for Thursday, and another heart surgery, although this one promises to be a short outpatient procedure which should have him back home by noon.
So we continue our daily life until then. And prayerfully, Thursday will just be another routine doctor appointment, only one that lasts a little longer than normal, and has the patient sleeping through most of it!
Stay tuned! We’ll let you know!