The Body Invaders: Heart Attack (20 of 28)

The Body Invaders: Heart Attack

One in five healthy adults experience arrhythmia in any given day But your risk of severe arrhythmia increases if you've had chronic lung disease.
If you've had a heart attack.
Or in Nancy's case.
As you age.
To return her heart to a normal rhythm doctors recommended a pacemaker.
An electronic device that would regulate her heart's electrical system It's a fairly simple procedure that's done over 100.000 times each year in the United States.
I was awake through the entire procedure; it was really painless.

It was sort of excited to think that I was going to have a machine inside me.
Pacemakers are implanted underneath the skin.
In the abdomen or under the right shoulder.
Wires or leads.
Travel through large blood vessels from the pacemaker to the heart.
Through these leads.
Nancy's pacemaker monitors her heart rhythm.
When Nancy's heart skips a signal.
Her pacemaker fires an electrical impulse to replace it.
I'm just.
I'm very lucky.
Because this is something that could be fixed.
And it was fixed rather easily.
And the battery is now.
I think about five years old.
Nancy goes to the New England Medical Center twice a year for a check up.
I'm going to turn you over to Melanie.
You know the routine.
She's going to check the pacemaker.
And I'll review everything with her a little bit later.