The Day My Life Changed

I was 23 years old and scared sitting in the orthodontist's office knowing I was about to have my wisdom teeth taken out. I was glad my boyfriend came along as someone needs to drive you home after something like that.
Why do they make you watch that awful video on wisdom teeth removal minutes before you are to have them removed. I guess they want to inform you of what to expect. Thank you for informing me of the impending pain and discomfort coming my way. Thank you for scaring me to the point I want to get up and leave your office. Thank you for allowing me to pay for this pain.

Anyways when I was called into the room the nurse sat me in the chair and started to hook me up to a thumb pulse monitor and put a paper smock on me. The Orthodontist came in and sat down and said let's begin. Oh yeah lets not I thought in my mind. He moved his chair over to the table where the needles were and I followed him. I looked at the needle and my mind started to race a little, panic started to set in. I started to hear their voices fade out and i started to inwardly think of the forthcoming pain. Then I looked at the orthodontist his face was up near my face and I could see his lips moving. I heard jargon coming from his mouth but I could not make it out, he was apparently looking at me and talking loudly, I could see him but I could not make out what he was saying.

A few seconds later I could see the nurse coming over as well and my hearing started to focus again. They were saying my name loudly and trying to get me to respond to them. They kept asking me if I was alright. I had no idea what was happening around me, all I could do was look at them but I could not speak, my mouth would not open. With each word spoken I was beginning to understand more and more of what they were saying they were talking to me and I was not responding they were looking at me and the doctor was clapping his hands loudly in front of my face. I heard him say flip her upside down.

Next thing I knew they had tilted the chair I was in all the way back so that my head was higher than my feet. I was on a 35 degree angle upside down. I was staring at them thinking they must be crazy or something bad was happening to me. But what could be wrong the orthodontist had not even started the procedure yet. I started to come into focus as they were sternly repeating my name. I looked them and I finally spoke, I recall I said "What" . The orthodontist looked at me and asked me if I was okay and I responded "yes I am". He asked me what was wrong with me, I said "Nothing is wrong with me" I asked him, "Why? What is going on?" He looked at me and said your pulse stopped. I was shocked, I thought he must be mistaken. I thought his equipment must of been bad. He had the nurse leave the room and have the secretary to call my doctor right then, the nurse came back in with my boyfriend who sat their looking at me all concerned. The orthodontist left the room and my boyfriend and I sat in the room for about a minute before he came back. The orthodontist instructed us to go directly to my doctors office which was around the corner and indicated I must go right then. I got up out of the chair slightly confused and a bit scared and out we went to my Doctor's office.

When we arrived we were quickly escorted into a observation room. The doctor came in and asked me what had happened at the Orthodontists. I looked at her and said I have no idea. I asked if this was going to take long as we had tickets to a concert that night. She said she needed to run a few tests and everything should be fine. That is when I first heard the term ECG, i had no idea what it was or what it did. All I know is this nurse brought this square machine on a cart in the room with a bunch of wires hanging off it. She proceeded to hook me up to this contraption. I think there were six wires. Two on my ankles, two around my rib cage and two on my upper chest. The nurse ran a "Strip" which apparently is a paper graph or your beating heart. She ran it 3 times and left the room. The doctor came in and they ran the test again 3 more times. Then they both left the room for about five to ten minutes. When the doctor came back she asked me if there was someone with me. I said my boyfriend was in the waiting room. She asked me to go get him and meet her in her office. I went to the waiting room called for my boyfriend and we walked back to her office where she was just getting off the phone. She looked at me and said you need to go to the hospital now. I have just got off the phone with the emergency department and they know you are coming. I said well what is wrong. She said that she ran the ECG and there was a potential problem and it needs to be looked at . I asked her how long is this going to take, I have a concert to go to. She looked at me and said you don't understand, but I said whatever it is it can't be that bad I feel fine and I need to go to this concert. In retrospect that was one of the dumbest things I have ever done. I went to the concert and afterwards my boyfriend brought me to the hospital where they checked me in over night. They ran more ECG and more tests, they did blood work and they hooked me up to a heart monitor holster and told me to go to sleep. I sat in that hospital for almost 1 week before a doctor finally told me what was going on. The doctor said I had third degree AV heart block. I had no idea what that was or what it meant. I said okay and then he went into detail of what it was, all I heard was blah blah blah, I had no idea what he was saying. Then I did hear him say we need to transport you to the university hospital. I said what? He said we have arranged for you to go by ambulance to the city which was an hour and a half away to the University Hospital for further assessment.

When I arrived at the hospital they checked me in and I went to the Cardiology ward. I was there for three weeks where I was studied and proded and tested and jabbed and assessed. The doctor eventually came in and said yes I have third degree AV heart block. My parents and my boyfriends parents were actually in the room when he said we are not sure what to do with you. We could give you a pacemaker or we can send you home but there is a chance that you could be out walking and drop dead. You can imagine I was a little stunned when he said that. So they wanted to send me home to think about my options. Option 1 was to have a pacemaker put in and option 2 was take a chance on my life with going au natural. I was confused so we went to another cardiologist for a second opinion. This doctor was a little more hands on and could speak in terms I could understand. He too was not overly sure what to do. He did recommend that I get the pacemaker in the odd chance I flat line somewhere without it and without help then it would be game over. So okay, I am 23 and getting a pacemaker. Well this is a life changing event. I remember thinking how my life would change how awful life would be with a pacemaker. I would not be able to do anything. I would not be able to run anymore or do sports. What if I am too weak to work etc. All of these things danced in my head until the day of the surgery. What happens if I don't wake up? What if I die on the table? I am too young to die. The day of the surgery arrived and the anathesiologist was on board. They wanted to keep me awake at first and just freeze my upper chest area where the implant was to go. Everything was proceeding okay when I seen the doctor get on the operating table above me and tried to push the implant under the muscle of my chest cavity. Then I must of panicked because the next thing I knew I was waking up in the recovery room. They must of put me out because he was having trouble getting the pacemaker under the muscle.

Oh the pain, the pain was awful, oh my this is painful, what is this tube at the side of my chest oh my gosh their is blood in it. Oh I am in pain, I feel queezy and dopey. Someone help me. My eyes are heavy and greasy my mouth feels sticky and dry. Someone help me help me please. I can't move, I cannot sit up. The intravenus hurts so bad. Please someone help me. This is what I remember from the surgeory fifteen years later. What an experience. What an ordeal.

Yes this was fifteen years ago and today I am still here about ready for my third pacemaker replacement some time this summer. Every ten years they need to replace the pacemaker as this is the average lifespan of one of these. So was it a good decision or bad decision to get the pacemaker I will never really know. What I do know is that now my lower beat does not pace on its own at all anymore. That was the intial problem, my lower beat was skipping too many beats along with bracardia which means my heart rate could also slow down where it can slip of the radar so to speak.

So did my life change for the worse, did I have to slow down, was it a life changing event? Well I was more aware of life and death after that, I went back to work full time, I still went out dancing and partying and played volleyball. The only thing I could not do was Arch Weld but that is okay. I even had a baby in 2007 in my mid thirties. So I think it worked out for the best. I am still on the other side of the ground and that is usually a good thing.