Hello all, I have not been on the website for a while since "Ike" and my AH being in the hospital for past 4 and 1/2 weeks. He has been having seizures or passing out spells - can't determine exactly which. He had Grand Mal in February and I think small ones since. Has been blacking out and heart rate drops along with blood pressure and comes to after a short while. Has been in acute care hospital for 2 weeks and had another "episode" today - passed out while sitting in chair, turned blue and stopped breathing. He is being transported to another hospital tomorrow a.m. for a tilt table test and an EP test to determine if it could be his heart. Now they are talking about a pacemaker and I just don't know if that is something that should be done to him at this stage. He is definitely in stage 6 of Alz and has been living in memory care facility since June because of behavior change.
Has anyone else gone through the pacemaker procedure and would you do this at this stage? I would appreciate any advice.
I would not. I would almost compare it to a feeding tube and if he is in stage 6, I think is prolonging his already almost no quality of life. My Mother had a pacemaker put in 8 years ago, while her basic health was pretty good and her mind excellent. However her last 3 years of "low quality life" Was a trial for her. Our Dr. said had it not been for the pacemaker she would have passed years ago.
Hard call for sure. G had a new device put in a year ago, so he is good to go for another 7-8 years. Right now that is fine, but he is in a big decline and ???? The energizer bunny thing comes up front. At your stage, I would say no..quality of life really has to enter into this situation. No really good answer except what your husband would have wanted had he a choice at this point. Mine has made it very clear.. no way!
I am pasting another post I did on the thread "Weakness out of the blue". My husband is 52 and in stage 4. He still works and drives and overall does well, but I watch him very closely...
Another thing to consider is low heart rate. My husband had no cardiac issues, other than HBP, but it was under control. One day we were sitting down reading some comments on a survey I had to compile and some of the comments were quite funny. One was so funny to him that he started laughing very hard. You know that kind of laugh when you can't explain what is so funny because it is just that funny to you and you are laughing that hard??? Well, one minute he was sitting on the edge of the sofa laughing hysterically and leaned bacward, then suddenly his arms and legs stiffened straight, his left leg began jerking, his eyes glazed over, his face turned beet red and he stopped breathing. I called his name twice and he was non-responsive. I was sitting on the chair next to our sofa. By the time I was yelling his name for the third time and getting up to go to him, he snapped out of it. It was over in a matter of a few seconds. He described it as being conscious, but unable to communicate. He said he heard me, but could simply couldn't answer. Within 20 minutes he was exhausted and could barely make it to the bed to take a nap, which lasted 3 hours. As I suspected highly he had a seizure, I watched him closely over the next several hours. Of course, he refused to let me take him to the hospital. The next day I did make an appointment with his Neurologist. They did an EKG, which was normal...no seizures, no TIA or stroke. They then did a 48 hour Holter monitor and a Table Tilt test. The Holter monitor was fine...Table Tilt revealed a low heart rate...45. During the Carotid Massage they stopped his heart and it took as much as 15 seconds for it to restart itself. They put in a pacemaker and he hasn't had any further problems in this area.
I would suggest you learn as much as you can about the procedure, pros and cons...and do what you feel and what you think is best for your husband.
These decissions are so hard...My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Something else to think about...one of the most important aspects of the recuperation process from a pacemaker is wearing a sling for a couple of days to keep the arm immoblilized and sleeping on their back for 6 weeks. Both of these requirements are an effort to keep the wires from the pacemaker attached to the heart muscle so it doesn't dislodge or rip out.
Wow, Gay, I'm sure you've been frantic. I'm so very, very sorry, it's such a terribly difficult situation.
I wonder ... would low blood pressure cause a Grand Mal seizure? I know that extreme high blood pressure can lead to seizures, but can a slow heart rate and low pressure (lack of oxygen)?
You may want to get this clarified -- how many of the problems he's been having could possibly be treated by fixing the heart beat.
My husband had a pacemaker put in as part of his EVENT (the one that caused his dementia) almost 5 years ago. I have already told his family doctor that we are not replacing his battery (or pacemaker if that is how it is done) when this one gives out.
He scored 11 in his last extended MMSE (the 50 point test) and is an early stage 6 going by the 7 stages.
I just signed my yearly DNR paper for my DH in the NH because before AD that is what my DH and I decided. I would consider that part of DNR because it is above normal (non invasive) methods of staying alive.
Thank you all for responding. We made the decision not to do the pacemaker. The doctor could not assure us that it would fix the problem and would not improve his quality of life. There reaches a point where you just say enough is enough. When he returned to the memory care facility today, we instructed them not to call 911 when he has an episode, get him comfortable in the bed and use oxygen. That is what they do in the hospital and also we updated the DNR. It is entirely in God's hands and that is the way that my husband wanted it. Another leg of his journey and ours too. The ache of missing him never goes away and sometimes it is so strong that I just want to sit down and weep and that is just how I am feeling right now. Sometimes when I am in our closet, I will rub one of his shirts against my face and try so hard to feel him in our home. I miss him so.