‘Back to normal’: How new pacemaker changed life
It’s the first time the new, ultra-small pacemaker has been installed in someone at a Toowoomba hospital.
Toowoomba
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TOOWOOMBA resident Murray Timbs has been given a new lease on life thanks to a new generation of pacemaker, and he is the first person in Toowoomba to receive one.
The 84-year-old said he had been having issues with his heart for more than a year.
"I collapsed on the tennis court last Monday week," he said.
"I basically had a low, low heart rate, which meant that oxygen was just not getting to the rest of my body."
On Monday, the former Harristown State School deputy principal and former The Chronicle Garden Competition grand champion winner had a new generation of pacemaker, known as a micra leadless pacemaker, installed at St Vincent's Private Hospital Toowoomba.
He was home a day later and by Wednesday morning was gardening again.
"I'm back to tennis again next Monday," he said.
"There's almost nothing to recover from.
"You can almost get back to normal straight away."
Cardiologist Caleb Mengel said unlike most pacemakers that were placed in a patient's chest, the tiny pacemaker was implanted directly into Mr Timbs' heart via a vein in his leg.
"This is much less invasive as there is no chest incision, scar, or bump that results from conventional pacemakers," Dr Mengel said.
"The device is completely self-contained within the heart which eliminates potential medical complications arising from a chest incision and from wires running from a conventional pacemaker to the heart.
"The micra is 93 per cent smaller than conventional pacemakers and weighs less than a coin."
Dr Mengel said patients had to meet a certain criteria to be eligible for the new pacemaker.
Mr Timbs said he was excited to live for years to come.
"I was aiming for 112 before I got this," he said. "Now I'm probably not being senseless in that I might reach it."
