Today marks exactly 10 years, non stop, that I am on Prednisone for sarcoidosis. The side effects of this medication can be horrendous, but thankfully my experience in those ten years were just mostly mood changes, thining skin and some weight gain. I am told that for being on it so long, my weight gain…
Tag: ICD Implant
Questioning The Universe’s Decisions For Us Is Really Pointless
The other day I was reading on my iPad in bed when I fell asleep and my iPad fell onto my chest, right over my AICD*. The ipad has a keybord case, which has a magnetic closure, and magnets affect ICDs. They literally turn them off. This happened to me already before with my old…
The Weekend Worthy Revisit: Forgetting Buddy’s Birthday
Originally Posted on September 17, 2011 I am great at remembering dates and numbers. I know obscure dates, phones numbers from my childhood, even most of my account numbers and credit card numbers. Today I realized I forgot Buddy’s Birthday. It was his birthday last August 28th, and I forgot. It’s pretty hard for…
Flashback Friday: Living Your Life For You And Not Your Disease
Originally Posted September 11, 2011 I follow this person on Twitter that has an implanted defibrillator and he is campaigning heavily for a patient’s rights to access his or her defibrillator information at will. Although I do agree with him to some extent, a recent tweet of his was an eye opener. It read: “I’m…
Sometimes Inconveniences Can Be Subtle Messages From The Universe
Yesterday, I went into Mt. Sinai for my quarterly pulmonary sarcoidosis work up, and like a good little Boy Scout ( yes, I was for all of two minutes), I had all my ducks in a row. (Who came up with saying anyway? Why do you want to put ducks in a row unless you…
Flashback Friday: Massage Me, Pace Me
Originally Posted FEBRUARY 5, 2011 I learned a very interesting fact from my cardiologist the other day when I went to get clearance to return to massage school. He said my ability to give massages is completely up to me. I should know my body. However, when I receive a massage I need to be…
Quiet Like A Low Tide, But My Tide Is Coming Back In
Since my surgery in July to replace my implanted defibrillator, just like a beach at low tide, my blog has been pretty quiet, and many of you have written in to see how I am doing and I really do appreciate the thoughts. Yes, I have been quiet on here, and I hope that I…
Flash Back Friday – Automated Concern
Originally Posted January 14, 2011 My defibrillator came with a bedside device that wirelessly communicates with the AICD, and transmits information by telephone automatically every three months to my electro-cardiologist. If there is a problem with the defibrillator such a lead coming lose or a sudden battery drain or anything out of the ordinary,…
Recovery Should Be Like A Slow Walk Down A Flowered Path
Today marks three weeks since I had my defibrillator replaced, and I was thinking, wouldn't it be great if recovery from surgery was as easy and delightful as walking down a flowered path? Who am I kidding? This surgery marks is my fifth one since being diagnosed with sarcoidosis in 2007, and as far as…
Anatomy Of A Surgery – My ICD Replacement
On Tuesday I had my ICD (Implanted defibrillator) replaced as my original one that was implanted in 2007 because of heart failure due to sarcoidosis, battery reached its threshold. I looked on the internet to find any one else’s experience with having the surgery, but no such luck. All I could find was the device…
Life As An Anomaly 