I have helped install more than 100 pacemakers and pacemaker/defibrillators in patients, but that was many years ago. Most only remained in the hospital overnight, and the vast majority of them went back to work within a week.

The pacemaker rate us set by the cardiologist doing the installation, with a resting rate of 60 the established rate. Your heart rate CAN go higher, when a higher rate is demanded from increased physical activity, but never get lower than 60.

If you have a pacemaker/defibrillator combination installed, the defibrillator kicks in when ventricular fibrillation is detected by the pacemaker's internal EKG monitoring device, which is very efficient. They rarely have problems. Usually, the pacemaker battery is good for 5 to 7 years, while the pacemaker/defibrillator battery is good for 2 to 5 years.

Battery replacement is usually performed by the cardiologist as an outpatient procedure and done under local anesthesia. Additionally, it's a good idea to purchase a wrist blood pressure cuff and monitor your BP daily, along with a pulse oximeter to monitor your %P02 (Percentage of oxygen saturation), both of which are important factors to keep track of on a daily basis. I also highly recommend purchasing a 6-Lead Kardia Mobil EKG device. I have one and it is very easy to use and you can send the results directly to your cardiologist is an abnormality is detected.

Hope this helps, Russ, though I do not have any first hand experience as a recipient of either device,

Gary