Thanks for your prompt reply . I'm not sure if I had PVC's before the
implantation of the pacemaker . The Atenolol has lowered their
frequency somewhat but I'm still having about 10,000 PVC's every 24
hours ( down from 18,000 per 24 hours ) . Hopefully the number of
PVC's will lessen as time passes .

Ed

Sir ,

Thank you for your reply . To begin with I'm 56 years old and in
fairly good physical condition . My heart related problem began in
January of 2003 during dental surgery . I was having all my upper
teeth pulled and the gums had to be opened up and some bone removed .
During the surgery my heart started beating irregularly and they had
to wake me up before the surgery was quite over . I had a physical a
couple of months before the procedure which included an EKG which was
normal . I went to my doctor after the dental surgery and another EKG
was done which showed that I now had a left  bundle branch block . I
was then sent to the cardiologist and a echocardiogram and a nuclear
stress test . The stress test was negative and showed no blockages ,
the echocardiogram showed a loss of heart function with my heart
pumping 40cc of blood per pump . I had another echocardiogram done six
months later which showed no changes .

On February 1st I was experiencing flu like symptoms and coughing up
yellow/green mucus so I went to our family doctor on February 2nd and
he put me on Ketek for five days . During these five days my feet ,
ankles hands and wrist started swelling up . My blood pressure started
fluctuating from 103/60 with a pulse of 31 to 160/119 with a pulse of
100 . I was feeling tired all the time but I couldn't sleep much and I
felt like I could faint several times a day . I went back to our
family doctor on the 7th and the x-ray showed that I had bronchitis
and pneumonia in my right lung . I was placed on Levaquin for seven
days at that time . I told the doctor about my symptoms and we decided
I should follow up with my cardiologist .

I called the cardiologists office on the 8th and a appointment for
another echocardiogram and a nuclear stress test was made for the 11th
. After the test I was told they would call me early the next week
with the results . On the 15th I called the cardiologists office and
asked for the results of the test but was told that they hadn't been
read yet . Again on the 16th I called the cardiologists office and
told them my symptoms were getting worse and that I was having some
chest pain . I asked for the results of the test but was told that
they still hadn't been read so I firmly requested that someone look at
them now if possible . They called me back a few minutes later and
told me the results we positive and that I should go to the emergency
room . While in the emergency room my pulse dropped to 30 .

I was in the hospital from the 16th through the 18th during which a
heart catheterization was done . It showed no blockages but that I was
having electrical problems . The cardiologist ordered a nuclear scan
of just the affected area of the heart and it was decided that I
needed a pacemaker . I was allowed to return home for the weekend and
returned to the hospital on the 21st and had a Medtronic EnPulse
E2DR01 pacemaker implanted and I was released on the 22nd . I'm pacing
at 44% atrial and 1.5% ventricular . I'm experiencing numerous PVC's .
17,000 within the first 24 hours following surgery . Another 143,000
PVC's from February 22 to March 1st at which time the cardiologist
changed my medication to 50 mg of Atenolol twice daily and 5 mg of
Enalapril Mal ( Vasotec ) daily . Prior to this I was taking 5/10 mg
of Lotrel to control moderately high blood pressure . From March the
1st to the 9th I had another 79,509 single PVC's plus 2,844 repeats .
My energy level has pick up but I'm still feeling these PVC's at
various times of the day and night . The doctor and pacemaker rep
don't seem to be overly concerned about the quantity of PVC's . The
medications I'm taking are Atenolol 50mg twice a day , Enalapril Mal (
Vasotec ) 5mg and a Buffered Asprin 325mg once a day .

I'm currently walking three miles in the morning and another two
miles in the evening . I have a appointment with the cardiologist on
March 22nd .

I copied and pasted this from a letter I just wrote for our company
nuse explaing my history and current condition .

Thanks again !

Ed