
‘You need a pacemaker’, they said, standing at the end of my hospital bed. ‘Not a big deal. Not too many risks.
‘We’ll enter a vein near your collar-bone. Poke a wire through the vein into the right atrium of your heart, and one into the ventrical. Screw them into the muscles of your heart.
‘Cut a flap in your skin just under the collar-bone, pop in a pacemaker, attach the wires and sew you up. Local anaesthetic. A bit of sedation.
‘That should fix you,’ they concluded.
‘Wait a minute,’ I said. ‘I need to think about this. Consult with my family.’
You can read how I got to this point in this post I wrote that seems like a very long time ago: Panic attack or heart problem. After a week at home on medication, unpleasant symptoms persisted.
Of course, I agreed to them inserting a pacemaker. And, of course, the cardiologist made it sound simple. His bread-and-butter comes from repeating the procedure on many people. Other people seem braver than me.
For me, a pacemaker and wires screwed into my heart seemed a very big deal. My previous ‘surgeries’ have been removal of cataracts and some dental work. Oh, and my tonsils were removed eighty years ago, in the olden days, when they used chloroform as an anaesthetic.
Nowadays, they use chloroform as an extraction solvent for fats, oils, greases, rubber, waxes, gutta-percha, resins, lacquers, floor polishes, gums and adhesives.
Consequences of the pacemaker
I’m no longer light-headed. My heart beats strongly and evenly.
I missed my long-planned, much anticipated trip to Melbourne and Canberra with my daughter, a granddaughter and my oldest great-granddaughter.
My blog, and much of my ‘ordinary’ life, got pushed to the background. However, I did read lots of novels I might otherwise have missed.
Because I spent so much time doing so little, my body no longer feels as fit and strong as it used to.
I’m fantasizing about my first swim in November, after three and a bit months.
However, in a few weeks time I’ll be back to normal. Or, my hope, even better than normal. I’ll wait and see.


Photo by Susan Dunn
Oh how wonderful – we have our dearest Maureen’s beautiful blog back in the air. No wonder we enjoyed fabulous weather today. One thing I do have to ask, so sorry. What is normal? What you are, dear friend, what you give to all cannot be described as normal. How it can be described is …. MAUREEN!! How blessed are we. Great to have you back.
Thank you for your comment, Eliza B. However, can I say you seem quite biased! And thank you, again.
So pleased to read this blog Maureen…. back on track, “gathering speed” and heading back toward all that makes you vital, curious, engaging, interesting, generous, fun and so much more. Hope to see you again soon. MX
Thanks, Margaret. I like to thin I can re-engage with the world again soon with some vitality and joy. I’m scared it may take more energy than I’m feeling, but with support offriends like yourself I hope to give it a good go.
So amazing! That’s barely sufficient to describe you! It’s wonderful to see you posting again, and to know you are “up and about” again. Much love. Xx
It’s good to be up and about again, Susan Dunn. And so good to be writing and posting blogs. Thanks for commenting.
Love hearing your stories & good luck with your new friend the miracle pacemaker you’re amazing👏🏼🙏🏼😘😘😘
My new pacemaker is an intrusive friend which claims dominance over my heart, Nena. I listen to its steady ticking, and I feel very grateful for medical science that can create miracles.
Very happy that you are back “on line” and beginning to get going. We are so blessed here with the care that is available that allows us to function more comfortably. Enjoy planning more family events very soon.🥰
Hello, Maureen. We are indeed blessed with the care of competence of medical and nursing staff and all the others involved in health care in Australia. I’m very glad to be back on line, as well.
That is such good news, Maureen Helen. So glad to hear you are on the mend now that you have a new ticker. Your swim in November will be special indeed. I am always in awe of your resilience and bright personality that shines in your Blog posts, Maureen, as no matter what comes your way 🙂 you are so resilient and work hard to rise above it all. Thanks for sharing your stories. They are always inspiring us all.
Thanks for being you Maureen and for sharing your stories with us.
Thank you for being my friend, Tricia. I’m grateful for the support of friends who get how hard the past few months have been. Being resilient as you call it can also ber described as pig-headed. I’ve plenty of that, and always willing to share!
Trust all will be well
Thanks, Steve. I’m going well so far, and expect to improve even more.
My apologies for missing this post. I’m spending less and less time with WordPress.
I’m so sorry you have been ill, but I’m relieved you’re on the mend and your pacemaker is working well.
Yes, I’m feeling much better, thanks SueW. Just curious about why you are spending less time with WordPress. Do you have a substitute you prefer, or has life taken you in a different direction?
Spending Less WordPress time.
It was at the suggestion of my clinician at the Long Covid Clinic. The more computer time I have, the more brain fog kicks in. The clinic is adamant that the brain needs to rest.
Weekly Prompts take up a lot of my time. Using my pre-prepared template and writing a challenge word is the easy bit. It’s the follow-up that takes time. I read each response and always make a comment; I would feel guilty if I didn’t.
Despite our agreement, Gerry hardly bothers to read or comment on his challenge responses, so I have twice as much to do. Plus, I try to keep up with the people I follow.
I have no idea why I began the new blog ‘Secret Diners’ It was a crazy idea! Not that I have many followers on that one. When the contract runs out in Spring, I’ll probably finish it.
This may be the second response you receive to your comment about Worpress, SueW. I wrote a reply, but then I lost it! I didn’t realise you are still influenced by Long Covid. How sad for you. I can only imagine how much time Weekly Prompts take up. Just writing one blog is as much as I can do these days, and even then it’s a bit of a stretch.
I do not subscribe to Secret Diners because it seems irrelevant to me on the other side of the world. Before COVID I often reviewed restaurants and cafes for Tripadvisor. I’m not sure if that’s even a thing now. I enjoyed finding out about good places to eat, especially when I was travelling much more. Mx