4 ms·
Well, what happened then?
by CmonDev 12y ago
Well, what happened then?
- ctdonath 12y agoWell, I didn't die. Needed a valve replaced too (no point installing pacemaker, then replacing the valve and having to re-install the pacemaker), so "don't die" stretched out to 11 days. After getting to watch a live X-ray of my heart, had open-heart surgery (which my boss wanted me to take as a vacation day), had an external pacemaker attached for 3 days (whatever happens, don't pull those wires out...hey, stop turning that "pulse rate" dial!!!), and then had the pacemaker installed. So now I'm a cyborg, with periodic data dumps and parameter tweaking, and looking at a the-hard-way battery change (whole unit upgrade while they're at it) next year. I couldn't sleep on my left side for two years because a wire was inductively stimulating my diaphragm when pressed close; eventually reprogrammed the wire's voltage/current to a tolerable state. Feeling great, appreciate software which doesn't crash, and mechanical valve ticks like a clock. As a bonus, the software monitors other things (while it's in there, may as well), and served to mitigate atrial flutter when that (unrelated problem) tried to shoot my heart rate to >350 beats per minute, pacer slamming on the brakes at 150bpm. ER crew was surprised when I walked in and calmly explained the problem. Glad that was in place to keep things together until the drive-thru heart surgery (run a blowtorch up an artery, zap 2 distorted nerves, go home) to fix that problem.