We did the silliest thing!

[gja1000]

Gary has a fancy pacemaker and he has to have it checked (read by a computer) every three months. Usually we have to go to the doctor, but we also have a home monitor that we can plug into the phone line and remote transmit his pacemaker data. They usually let us do that once or twice a year, so we make fewer doctors visits. We can also do it anytime we want, if we think his heart is beating irregularly.

Well, they called him the other day and told him that it was time for a pacemaker check and that we could do it from home. So we pulled out our transmitter, hooked it up, but it wouldn't transmit. We tried several times, to no avail.

So, the next day I called the office and talked to someone who English was not her first language, thus it was hard to understand her. When I described the problem to her, she said we were using the wrong transmitter - we needed to use the one we got year before last when they put in a new pacemaker. I told her we only had one transmitter, and we had a long conversation about it. I was not very happy - she said I must have taken it somewhere and left it - yeah right - I'm going to carry around Gary's pacemaker transmitter and then leave it! Finally we ended the conversation by making an appointment to go in to the office to get it checked.

Meanwhile I ask Gary if we have a new transmitter and he says no. So, we try again with the transmitter, but alas, it won't work. Later that day I was in the cabinet where we keep the electronics (NOT the medical equipment - we have a huge cabinet where we keep all his medical equipment) and a word caught my eye. MEDTRONIC was printed on the outside of this dark blue case.

Yep, that was the new transmitter that neither Gary nor I have any memory of getting - but I guess we did. So, we transmitted his pacemaker data. The nurse (different from the person I talked to) called yesterday and said, "Looks like you found your transmitter". Yep, we did. GEESH! Our memories are going going (almost) gone!

The neat thing about this transmitter is that we don't actually have to transmit or do anything to transmit. We can leave it hooked up by his bedside and when they want to check his pacemaker, they can retrieve the data from their end. They said they usually do this at night when most everyone is sleeping and thus, within 10 feet of their transmitter. Gary's new pacemaker is wireless (for transmission purposes) so all he has to be is within 10 feet of the machine and it will do its thing.

Pretty neat, huh! But don't we feel stupid!!! LOL!