Yesterday and she has been restricted from driving for six months. She isn't "aging" (any more than any of us --- she's only 49) but she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure five years ago when she had an aortic dissection and she has various comorbidities. The defibrillator was implanted about three years ago. If you have experience with afib/defibrillators with your parent or spouse, please tell me: does the fact that the doctor restricted her driving indicate that she's entering a more serious stage of CHF/afib or is this a normal precaution following an afib episode? I figure the doctor thinks it was definitely afib, not a misfire, or he wouldn't have restricted her driving for SIX MONTHS! I'm trying to figure out how to be supportive long distance of my son and DIL, while living with and caregiving for my mother, 600 miles away.
Six months will either feel like eternity, or will fly by quickly. I know how it feels not to be able to drive for 6 months, that happened to me when I broke my right shoulder :(
I think of this like...a diabetic is generally in control of their health but one time forgets their insulin and go into a diabetic coma. They are brought out of it with a shot of insulin or some other treatment. They need to be more careful for the next couple of months but it does not signify a definitive downhill slide towards organ failure.
Angel
After researching the type of lead my father had as well as the defective leads, I raised with his cardiologist and electrophysiologist the issue of removing the defective lead.
They felt that it was too much of a dangerous operation to remove the defective lead, but it was disconnected or rendered inactive in some way so it wouldn't misfire.
Has the cardiologist confirmed that the episode was in fact NOT a defective lead misfiring?
My father's had A-fib for 16 years but the issue of driving has never been raised. But each person is different, as are the co-morbidity factors.
I would ask the cardiologist specifically if the A-fib issue was more serious than previous ones to the point that he/she recommended no driving.