Yeah, I did know most of that. But a nice summary anyway. One big difference is that they monitor me with 7 (in the ward) and 12 (during surgery) lead ECG, n

Yeah, I did know most of that. But a nice summary anyway. One big difference is that they monitor me with 7 (in the ward) and 12 (during surgery) lead ECG, not 5. Fortunately, being in Australia where there is universal health care, I have an excellent team working with me. Typically in the Cardiac Catheter Laboratory there's the Professor (surgeon), a cardiac aneathetist, several registrars and students, several nurses, a technician from Biotronik, and a cardiac scientist. They use absolutely minimal doses of lignocaine, based on my reporting pain levels during surgery. They do give me a very small dose of propofol during the test at the end, when they induce VF and AF to test the unit. I'm told this is much less stressful than being awake while fibrilating and being shocked (twice). I know that going into VF and AF feels bloody aweful, and syncope often results in nasty falls, so being knocked out for that makes sense. I did break my arm once when shocked though - those stainless steel tables are bloody hard! I know a patient in the US who had a bill for $145k after getting his ICD. I on the other hand pay nothing, except a lifetime of higher taxes than Americans pay.