Finally due for "battery" replacement
Aug. 25th, 2013 10:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunrabJust a quick update for those of you keeping track - I got this ICD/pacemaker September 3, 2006, so I am now pretty much 7 years into a "5-year battery" expected life of the device - it finally dropped down to the replacement level last month. So I am getting the battery - or generator - replaced this Thursday. To explain that quickly - when they talk about replacing the battery on a pacemaker or ICD, they really mean replacing the whole blob of metal that is the device, everything except the leads. The human body is full of nasty fluids, so pacemakers are sealed very well so as not to have the works damaged by their environment, and that means there's no easy-in, easy-out battery slot; the battery is an integral part of the unit. Which is also referred to as a generator, since it generates those little electric shocks.
The upside of this is that, although the generator is the very expensive part of the device (5 figures), it is very easy to install; it's the leads that are a bitch to install. Lead placement is an overnight (or longer) procedure, which, as you all know, I have had remarkably bad luck with. But device replacement is outpatient surgery, local anesthesia with sedation. So I will be in and out again Thursday afternoon. And, since Medicare is now my primary insurer, I will have no problems with out-of-network anesthesiologists billing me thousands of uncovered dollars - we're going into this knowing that anyone who touches me better take Medicare. The EP (electrophysiologist, or pacemaker/ICD specialist) surgeon is someone from my regular cardiologist's practice whom I've talked to several times, and so we're really clear on what we're NOT doing here - no weird attempts to suddenly be the person to succeed in placing a third lead. In fact, we are putting in the simpler device that doesn't have bi-ventricular lead capacity. Smaller and probably longer life than the current device. All the way around, though any surgery is a nuisance, this one I expect will be less of a nuisance than anything else I've had done anytime these last 10 years.
It's Howard County General, just a few miles from my condo. Cindy is driving me there and back. I'll post to Facebook as soon as they let me have my phone back in the recovery room.
The upside of this is that, although the generator is the very expensive part of the device (5 figures), it is very easy to install; it's the leads that are a bitch to install. Lead placement is an overnight (or longer) procedure, which, as you all know, I have had remarkably bad luck with. But device replacement is outpatient surgery, local anesthesia with sedation. So I will be in and out again Thursday afternoon. And, since Medicare is now my primary insurer, I will have no problems with out-of-network anesthesiologists billing me thousands of uncovered dollars - we're going into this knowing that anyone who touches me better take Medicare. The EP (electrophysiologist, or pacemaker/ICD specialist) surgeon is someone from my regular cardiologist's practice whom I've talked to several times, and so we're really clear on what we're NOT doing here - no weird attempts to suddenly be the person to succeed in placing a third lead. In fact, we are putting in the simpler device that doesn't have bi-ventricular lead capacity. Smaller and probably longer life than the current device. All the way around, though any surgery is a nuisance, this one I expect will be less of a nuisance than anything else I've had done anytime these last 10 years.
It's Howard County General, just a few miles from my condo. Cindy is driving me there and back. I'll post to Facebook as soon as they let me have my phone back in the recovery room.
