Surgery and Devices – Louise

 

Louise shares her story about being unsure about what device she had implanted.

Written testimony

 

I was flown to Calgary again after a second STEMI heart attack in March 2017. I had fallen unconscious before the heart attack, so more than just my heart was in recovery. My head, face and body were battered and my eyes swollen and injured. Cardiac intervention was delayed until I stabilized. After I got out of the cardiac ICU, I was in cardiac recovery again. Then the ICD Clinic people and doctors came to see me a few times. I had been told I had an electrical problem with my heart three months earlier, but I hadn’t looked into it yet. They said ‘we know you have an appointment to meet with us in May, but we would like to give you an implanted device now, while you’re in Calgary and in the hospital’. 

I was alone and in shock, and not totally understanding everything. I think it kind of progressed from the ICD people saying I needed a pacemaker, which later changed to an ICD, and then to a 2-lead ICD. I met one or two electrophysiologists, and someone brought me a sample device at one point, and I took a picture of it. I did agree to the procedure, and they implanted my device. Something that I knew almost nothing about for years, until there were problems. I later saw that it was a CRT in my photo, and in my compromised condition, I thought that’s what I had received. It wasn’t. I had a 2-lead ICD that was a combined defibrillator and pacemaker.

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