Heart-Stopper (Literally)

Longtime Northwest cruisers know Tom Taylor as the owner of the famed Greenway Sound Marine Resort in the Broughtons cruising grounds in British Columbia. The resort is closed now, and Tom and Ann have moved back home to La Conner, Wash. Tom sent this note about a recent adventure. Medicine has come a long way.

Tom and Ann Taylor

November 1st–3rd was a wild forty-eight hours for us. About 11 a.m. on Tuesday, I slumped down in the shower, on my way to passing out. I caught myself but knew something was very wrong. We had been working with cardiology on my slowing heart. But Tuesday was different. After lying down for a while I knew I couldn’t get up, so we called 911. At exactly noon on Tuesday, I arrived at Skagit Emergency surrounded by kind people. My pulse was about 40 beats per minute. They admitted me to the hospital. A pacemaker was the obvious fix.

The critical care unit hooked me up to every imaginable device and contacted Dr. Bhola from Fairhaven (Bellingham). He came down to Mt. Vernon and met with us. A pacemaker would fix me, so we decided to put one in Wednesday morning. That night my pulse took a sudden dive to 27 beats. Then during surgery, my heart stopped altogether. The SA and AV nodes in my heart had fired their last. I flat-lined.

They had to hook a temporary pacemaker while they installed another temporary through the artery from my right leg. After that stabilized, they hooked up the permanent one. I was awake through most of this, and as soon as the final pacemaker went on, I felt fine. I could not believe it. A cheer went up from the surgical staff for Dr. Bhola, who saved my life.

Today at noon I came home... gone just 48 hours... with a new BioTronics pacemaker running my heart. I feel fine...best I have felt in years. The pacemaker is tucked under the skin just below my left collar bone. Two wires go down in the heart and receive an 0.4 volt DC charge which causes the heart to pump. The battery will last 10 years. It fires about 80 times a minute. Each night by wi-fi it transmits to a monitor and tells the firing voltage and the battery status. If the monitor does not like something, it calls by itself over T-Mobile to let someone know.

Skagit Valley Hospital and the paramedics were splendid. Thanks to everyone who was involved in a successful outcome. Ann stood by me throughout, for which I am very grateful.

Please give those dear to you an extra hug!

Tom Taylor (with wonderful support from Ann)