Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 | 8:26 a.m.
I was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office -- something I seem to be doing quite often of late. I picked up a magazine called Health. It contained an article about Vice President Dick Cheney.
According to the author, "The day Vice President Dick Cheney received a special device for his heart, cardiac care for patients with prior heart attacks took a major step forward."
The article went on to describe a device that has been implanted in Cheney's chest, commonly known as an implantable defibrillator.
It occurred to me that the vice president and I have something in common: I, too, have one of those gadgets.
Roughly about the size of three silver dollars, it is placed under the collar bone and is attached to wires threaded into the heart.
The defibrillator monitors every single heartbeat and can deliver a life- saving shock if the heart begins to act erratically due to a sudden electrical problem.
Doctors will supply information and reams of literature about the device, but nothing really can prepare a patient for the "jolt." That's when the device goes "kaboom" and kicks you in the chest.
My first jolt was a traumatic experience. Before the surgery, I had decided my first official act of recovery would be to renew my driver's license. That was before my doctor gently grounded me for several months.
One sunny day, my daughter took me to the DMV office on West Flamingo Road. We lined up, stood around, fussed and fumed for 2 1/2 hours until my picture was taken and a brand new driver's license was mine.
As we walked out of the DMV I felt a bit weary, but nothing unusual. I seated myself in the car. Without any warning I felt like I had been hit by lightning. My body convulsed and I couldn't stop screaming.
My daughter and I had read carefully all the information supplied to us by the gadget's manufacturer, so we knew I was being hit by the jolt.
A trip to emergency at Sunrise Hospital ensued where Randy, the technician, took over with a calm reassurance that this was not an uncommon happening.
Scary, but not rare.
Although the actual shock seemed like hours, it was only seconds in duration, and left me with a horrible feeling of apprehension that it could happen again.
According to news reports, Vice President Cheney's device has not been needed to correct any irregular heartbeat since it was implemented in June.
I would hate to think the vice president of the United States was walking around with a little time bomb that could go off at any minute and send him into a jolt.
Medical science has made sensational advances in the field of cardiology, the implantable defibrillator being one.
Now I hope they can find out a way to ward off the bolt from the blue; although it is reassuring to know that the gadget works.
Would I recommend it? I'm not sure. The answer would be with the patient and doctor.
But as the pundits would say, "If it is good enough for the vice president, it should be good enough for me."
archive
