Next Surgery on the Docket

Next Tuesday, I will be having surgery to implant my implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). This will replace the LifeVest that I’ve had since May, and will act as an AED, so to speak, if I were to go into cardiac arrest, which I am at a severe risk for. 

This surgery is in preparation to deal with the crazy amount of extra beats that my hearts puts off. I am on amiodorone, a strong medication to decrease the amount of PVCs, but it’s such a strong med that it can decrease your organ function. Therefore, the doctors do not want me to be on it much longer. Not that I have had any symptoms of organ failure, but they don’t want to take the risk either. So, once the ICD is implanted, I will eventually be taken off of this medication. It is assumed that I will get all of those crazy beats back, but I need them to come back, in order to have my next surgery/procedure, which is called “ablations,” to blast away the areas where those extra beats are coming from.

I’ve been asked by many how I feel about this surgery on Tuesday. Well, a bit mixed. Of course no surgery is fun, but at the same time, this is extremely minor in comparison to open heart surgery. I will have a 3-4 inch incision that will have to heal under my arm, where the ICD will be implanted, but the procedure itself isn’t too hard, at least I don’t think. Dan and I were saying this is probably the least prepared we feel mentally because we don’t know what to expect, but at the same time, sometimes that’s not a bad thing either. We are also ready to just keep moving forward too. I want to keep working towards getting this heart healthy, so in a way, bring it on. 

I am one scarred mess I feel like at times, so why not add another, right? But in reality, I honestly don’t “see” many of the scars I have. And when I do, they tell a story of God’s grace. A story that I want to keep telling.

I plan to only be there one night, and hope to go home the next day. So like I said, pretty minor in the grand scheme of things!

Thank you for continuing to walk this journey with us! It is FAR from over, but each procedure, each surgery, we hope brings us one step closer to a healthy heart. At least that’s what we pray!