“Hey honey, do we have any AA batteries handy? I can’t change the TV channels. The remote batteries must be dead.” Marjorie tells me they are behind the bedroom door in a red battery storage case. Sooo, I drag myself outta my comfy recliner, head to the bedroom; open the damn door stealthily, so I don’t let the cat out, (that’s another story), and grab the battery case. Lotsa batteries, D, C, 9 volt, AAA, and voila, AA. So I grab two and come back to the den and my recliner.
I find the remote; follow the simple instructions on it, and replace the kaput batteries. Now, the acid test–try out the remote. Yay, the channel changes on demand. Eazy, peazy, end of battery change issue.
What if the battery in question was in a pacemaker/defibrillator that’s in your chest? That device is about the size of a pack of Lucky’s. And it sits just under the skin, very near my left shoulder and armpit. Welcome to my world.
The first such battery was installed with the device almost ten years ago. Each battery lasts about five years, ergo I’m due for a second battery change.
My marvelous device actively controls my heart rate. I am literally “living better electrically.” To make sure my electronic heart is working ok, I now have a St Jude electronic monitor on my bedside table. Every night, my device dumps my daily heart rate record from my “pack of Lucky’s” into the St Jude monitor which then transmits that record to my cardiologist. My electrophysiologist has a 24/7 record of my heart function.
But it isn’t real time. There’s a time every day when my doctor cannot view my heart rate activity.
A possible solution to that lapse of coverage is to transfer the monitoring task to my iPhone. That would provide the doctor with a 24/7 real time record of my heart function. IF, my iPhone continues to work, doesn’t get lost, or doesn’t get broken. That’s the plan for my next pacemaker battery change.
Instead of programming the device to be monitored by the machine at my bedside, they will program my iPhone to do that job. I will certainly find out more about this change at my procedure on Friday, just three days from now. Wish me luck. I’ll tell you the “rest of the story” after my Friday procedure. Sorry, Paul.
“And now…the rest of the story”.
The minor outpatient surgery to change my battery (or generator, as the hospital staff says), went just fine. The “my heart” app was installed by the “Merlin” tech. I did need to give them my Apple ID and password. Glad I looked it up. How many of us have had that panic? I don’t know my password, let alone my Apple ID off the top of my head.
I did nothing else. I just sleep with my pacemaker device nearby. I can turn my big bedside device in to my electrician/cardiologist in six days at his office for my follow up visit. Another App installed. Call me “New Age”. LOL
Enuf.