pro's and cons. Pro's: You can tell chicks you got the wound in a bar fight, I have one in my neck also from a VNS. Con's No more MRI's for you. This might not be a con for you, dunno. Stay in good health though, no red meat! Hope you have a good doc. Makes all the diff in the world! I know! Out of my last 20 or so I've had 2, luckily there are my last ones!
"Well he shoulda armed him self" William Munney-Unforgiven"
"You believe there is one God, that is good, even the demons believe and shudder in fear" James 2:19
I had an echocardiogram done on me last week. Everything looked great. Now get this... My ejection fraction came out between 55 and 65%!!! Anything over 40-45% is considered "normal". Eight years ago, I was at 22% which is what they call "circling the drain". Since then, my previous best was only 45% so to get up over 50% (and then some) is pretty awesome.
FYI-- "Ejection fraction" is the percent of blood that your left atrium squeezes out to the rest of the body every time it contracts. They use that measurement to get an idea of how efficiently the heart is working. Most normal people will have one between 50 and 70%. A well trained athlete might have one as high as 75%.
So you're saying you're "normal":tooth:? That is excellent news!
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn away from their ways and live. Eze 33:11
Hey, Jerm, glad to know you're doing okay and healing up fine. Been there, done that myself, partly.
After my heart attack and open heart bypass, my ejection fraction is permanently low due to irreversible cardiac weakness. For me, a pacemaker wasn't a fix. Last year in the hospital, I got a big lecture re. getting a defibrillator embedded but I turned it down. It wouldn't add to my health, wouldn't increase my cardiac capacity, just would help if I had another "incident".
I told them to go spend that $50k on some guy or gal who was raising a family and needed it more than I did. I've got "DNR" cards in my wallet (do not resuscitate) and mean it. When the "big one" comes, I'm outta here, dude. And that's not heroics on my part, it's just common sense -- I don't mind being in the hospital for a bit if I'm getting out but to lie there and know it's all she wrote? Nope.
Jerm, good luck dude, and take care of yourself. Things will get better and you'll be fine. Congrats.
Thanks for the well wishes everyone. Getting the results earlier this week was pretty shocking. I still find it hard to believe that I made that much of a recovery. I feel really good, but then I am one of those people that don't complain that much. After my open heart eight years ago, the doc came in and told my mom that I would never be normal. I only caught part of the conversation because I was under heavy sedation after they split my freaking chest open and stopped my heart for a few hours, but she (laughingly) said that I was never normal.
While it is still true, I am the one laughing now.
Reason obeys itself; and ignorance submits to whatever is dictated to it.
Glad to hear you are on your way back to health! Don't worry too much about getting back to like normal people; normal is highly overated!
timc - formerly known as timc on the last G&A forum and timc on the G&A forum before that and the G&A forum before that.....
AKA: Former Founding Member
Replies
"You believe there is one God, that is good, even the demons believe and shudder in fear" James 2:19
So you're saying you're "normal":tooth:? That is excellent news!
JAY
After my heart attack and open heart bypass, my ejection fraction is permanently low due to irreversible cardiac weakness. For me, a pacemaker wasn't a fix. Last year in the hospital, I got a big lecture re. getting a defibrillator embedded but I turned it down. It wouldn't add to my health, wouldn't increase my cardiac capacity, just would help if I had another "incident".
I told them to go spend that $50k on some guy or gal who was raising a family and needed it more than I did. I've got "DNR" cards in my wallet (do not resuscitate) and mean it. When the "big one" comes, I'm outta here, dude. And that's not heroics on my part, it's just common sense -- I don't mind being in the hospital for a bit if I'm getting out but to lie there and know it's all she wrote? Nope.
Jerm, good luck dude, and take care of yourself. Things will get better and you'll be fine. Congrats.
While it is still true, I am the one laughing now.
Great news Jerm
AKA: Former Founding Member