The change from Ex-Forge to the new BP medicine worked out badly, and we had some real concerns about how high my blood pressure went. One evening we went to the Sibley Emergency Room after speaking with the duty doctor for my cardiology group. They found no basic problem at the hospital, but suggested checking with Dr. Vassallo about the medicine. After talking with him, I was switched back to the Ex-Forge, and I kept a careful record of my BP for a couple of weeks--and it was generally fine.
During those two weeks we visited the doctor who specializes in catheter ablation. The upshot of that very pleasant session was the following advice: "Since you are asymptomatic--much as I love doing these operations--I cannot recommend it." This took a weight off my mind, as I had no wish to have wires threaded up from my groin and through my veins into my heart, so that they could poke around trying to find the right place to "ablate."
St. Jude were supposed to be sending me a transmitter so that I could, from time to time, transmit to them how my pacemaker was functioning. First they sent it to the wrong address. Then, after a phone call from me, they sent it to the correct address. I had to plug it into the telephone jack--it has a splitter--and there was also a small power pack to be plugged into an electrical outlet. I stripped off my shirt, plugged in the power, held the recording device against my pacemaker, and followed the instructions as to which buttons to press. One icon lit up, showing me that the signal was going from my pacemaker to the transmitter. But the transmitting icon never lit. After a couple more tries, I phoned technical support.
The answer--they had sent me the wrong transmitter for my type of pacemaker. Which means--waiting for the replacement and then packing up the one they first sent me.
