Clear!!!

Everyone has seen episodes of ER or other medical dramas where a patient flatlines and they bring up a crash cart also called a defibrillator. They yell, "clear" to make sure that there is no collateral damage and then the lifeless body convulses into the air. This is all done by the work of your friend and mine - electricity. An electrical current flows through the paddles of the defibrillator that discharges an electrical kick tantamount to a horse kicking one in the chest.

I have an implanted defibrillator in my chest. I've had it for 8 years and it has not discharged other than one time when it paced me. I'm seeing a cardiac electrophysiologist today who will make a recommendation on what should be done with the defibrillator. One of the leads from my defibrillator is causing my tricuspid valve to leak. Therefore, the electrophysiologist will make a recommendation to my surgeon on what to do.

In addition, my defibrillator has been alarming for some unknown reason. It started many weeks ago when I kept on hearing a noise similar to a British Police Car Siren in my office. I looked around checked all my cell phones and then it disappeared. I thought it was really strange but I quickly forgot about it. I, then, went to Sacramento for a weekend and was at a local Target store and I heard the same siren again. I thought I was going mad and I was running down every aisle trying to find the source of the noise but it suddenly stopped on its own. Finally, I was watching Indiana Jones (of which I wasn't very impressed) in the movie theatre. I heard the siren again. I thought to myself, "what idiot would leave his/her cell phone on during a movie?" But then I realized it was coming from my chest. I was panicked because I didn't know how to turn it off. However, it did turn off by itself as it had done so before. The doctor looked at the defibrillator the next day and turned off the alarm. He didn't know why it was alarming because the defibrillator looked good but he figured that I didn't need to hear the alarm going off day after day.

I'll give everyone an update tomorrow on what happens with the electrophysiologist tomorrow. Hopefully, the cardiac team can find a good method of dealing with my defibrillator.

The following YouTube video is the a combination of my two favorite things; hockey and defibrillators.