Heart Update and Doc Visit

Well, time for a heart update. I have been very careful on not trying to use the left arm in two areas. Not lifting more than 5 pounds and no higher than shoulder height. Turns out that maybe 90% of what you do, fall into the the two above categories above. SIGH!

When I sleep I roll over from one side to another and that is fine and dandy, until I roll over on the incision, then I wake up and say "Oh S*&%".....as it hurts, then I readjust and go back to sleep. Finally I am training myself not to roll over as much. 

Janet was armed with crook in her hand, this Saturday during lessons. She gave lessons while I puttered about. She had full permission to whack me should I break the two rules from above. But I was  wise and made sure that I obeyed. How often, can you whack your herding instructor with permission? 

My students have been great about coming over each night to do chores for me. They are the best students and I am grateful for them as they are my friends too. My mom and aunt came over and made me lunch a couple of times. I ate so much that I had to take a nap. They got to feed the chickens and have fun. Getty has been helping me a lot too. I did make dinner a couple of time and this week, will be doing more cooking. My brother came over and fussed over me and brought me a fruit tree and Japanese Maple tree. His friend, Jim, was here too and he is a cool guy. 

I've been sleeping lots off and on. some days, I have a normal day and other day, I take long naps. I listen to my body and sleep or rest when it tells me. The bruising color is going down and it is just swollen now. It hurts still but not a sharp stabbing pain like before but more of a deep pain. Apparently, when they made the incision, they have to really stretch the hole open to shove the pacemaker in, then place the leads in the heart. That is why it hurts as the area around the incision had major trauma done to it. But it is healing and will take six weeks for the leads to be stable in the heart.

That means 4.5 more weeks of being careful and not pulling, yanking, lifting etc as it can pull the leads out. As it was, there was damage to the heart and it took a bit for them to thread the leads in so I don't want to go back in for a re-surgery. I guess one lady, around two week after her surgery, bent down to clean out her garbage can and the leads pulled out, That was enough to spook me to be a lot more aware.

I did work Maid for about five minutes yesterday and she ran like a dream. Only one missed flank and she was a little pushy at first on the drive but settled down. We did driving, fetches then to end it a shed. She came in clean and fast and I felt her brush past my legs as she flanked to push the sheep away. We quit then and she ran proudly to the gate, her tongue hanging out and a gleam in her eye.

Doctor Heywood said I could start training but in small doses and start to do stuff but slowly. So I guess running the marathon is out and climbing Mount Everest is out too. I will be happy that I can work my dogs for five minutes. I did notice when I did work Maid, my incision area did hurt when I went out of a walk so I won't be training any young dogs or anything that require fast movement. That will be in4.5 weeks. today was the Doctor visit and he was pleased wiht waht he saw in my progress.

The blood pressure was normal, and my heart rate was 50 beats at rest. The Biotronik Rep was there and took my readings and everything looked great There was no sign of the flutter and she fine tuned the pacemaker. I am the proud owner of a Biotronik Evia Model, which is the top of the line model. So far, so good.This model lasts for about ten years and is half the size of the other pacemakers.

BIOTRONIK EVIA

I will get a remote unit that will plug into my telephone and it will upload data to the Doctor so he can monitor the results. I am sure he will see the reading when my heart rate go up, when my dogs runs through the stop at the top at a trial...no, wait, my dogs never do that! More than likely, it will spike up when I will be training Ben, the young Joe pup. He is quite, shall we say, "LIVELY" on sheep.

So the good news is that this surgery worked. No flutter and heart rate is normal. I am so happy now. No more dark circles under my eyes and lots more energy!

I felt so good that I got a makeover and new makeup. The Biotronik rep had on non-allergic mascara that was totally natural and she told me where she got it. I went to the Ulta store and got a makeover, a treat to myself and like the new look.

Look no dark circles under the eyes!.

Life is going to be normal soon. I go back to work next week, telecommute for two week, then back to the office. I am not sure how they are going to handle me with all of this new found energy.

Tess still hangs out with me and seems to know when my incision begins to hurt and she gets snuggley. Then we take a nap and I feel better. I just have to rein myself in and let myself heal and soon, this chapter of the heart problems will be closed.