UPDATE: John Fetterman to undergo procedure to implant pacemaker days after suffering stroke

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: WTAE TV4 Pittsburgh

John Fetterman, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor and a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is set to undergo a procedure to implant a pacemaker, his campaign said.

"It should be a short procedure that will help protect his heart and address the underlying cause of his stroke, atrial fibrillation (A-fib), by regulating his heart rate and rhythm," his campaign said.

The procedure comes days after Fetterman announced that he was recovering from a stroke he suffered late last week. The 52-year-old said he went to the hospital on Friday after not feeling well and would remain a while for observation.

Earlier on Tuesday, Fetterman cast an emergency absentee ballot in Pennsylvania's primary election, his campaign said.

Read more: https://www.wtae.com/article/john-fetterman-vote-pennsylvania-primary-emergency-absentee-ballot/40024916

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Was hearing this locally here on the news radio station as a breaking news.

UPDATE

Philly Inquirer reported this (one of those "live updates" ) -

Fetterman campaign says procedure was successful

Fetterman’s campaign said the procedure to implant a pacemaker and a defibrillator into his chest was successful. The campaign released a statement saying the procedure started at 3:15 p.m. and ended at 5:56 p.m.

“He is resting at the hospital and recovering well,” spokesman Joe Calvello said. The campaign has said doctors treated Fetterman’s stroke in time to prevent any cognitive damage, performing a procedure to remove a blood clot from his brain.

But a defibrillator is designed to treat a different problem: sudden cardiac arrest and it wasn’t immediately clear what heart problems Fetterman might have that go beyond atrial fibrillation. His campaign has not responded to requests to talk to his doctors.

https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/live/pennsylvania-primary-election-day-2022-polls-results-candidates-20220517.html#card-1455610561

(and in that article blip they had was Lamb going low with the insinuations )

“Nobody knows what’s going on and each new disclosure seems like a surprise,” he said.

[AZLD4Candidate]

1. This happens to Big John and the Slobfather is still perfect health.

Karma doesn't exist.

[agingdem]

2. just goes to show

vermin live forever...

[BumRushDaShow]

3. He has been running himself ragged

making it to all 67 counties - which includes many of the deepest red ones, much to the delight of those Democrats who live in them.

And he is at "that age" when stuff like this can happen.

[AZLD4Candidate]

5. I loves me some Big John. My mother can't WAIT to vote for him.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. He voted from the hospital earlier this morning

Link to tweet

John Fetterman
@JohnFetterman
Just cast my Primary Election Vote from Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital using an emergency absentee ballot. ✅
Image
1:23 PM · May 17, 2022

[Polybius]

31. Now I really like Fetterman

I like voting last-minute too.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. LOL

I know he wanted to be at his polling place with all kinds of folks around, but sometimes things turn out for the best.

As it is, poor Josh Shapiro tested positive for covid and had to be in isolation rather than attend his own primary election event!

[Polybius]

30. And being overweight makes it worse

He did lose a lot of weight at one point though.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Could be all that stuff coming from this place

I have still never seen or been in a Sheetz nor had I ever heard of it until Fetterman started making it a "thing". That's because Philly is Wawa land!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

34. I almost barfed this morning.

Wawa texted me to say they had peanut butter fudge coffee.

[BumRushDaShow]

35. ....

I have some regular Wawa coffee k-cups that I brew up in my mini Keurig every once in a while. It's pretty refreshing.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

36. I get exotic like french roast now and then.

I kinda think that if you want nuts, berries, pickles, sauerkraut... in your coffee, you probably just don't like coffee all that much.

YMMV

[BumRushDaShow]

37. Well those who do like that

could just order it as a hoagie and be done with it!

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

38. Not sure I'm up for coffee flavored hoagie dip either.

[BumRushDaShow]

39. I heard

it was like adding some brown mustard and provides some umami...
:

[erronis]

22. Who says it is still in perfect health? It could be a sack of replaced body parts, lurching

from place to place. It has no discernible human qualities such as self-reflection, humor, empathy.

It is just a poor embodiment of a humanoid propped up by many entities interested in sucking the lifeblood from our democracy.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. This is actually not the BFD you might think it is

All kinds of people have pacemakers now, even young folks. Of course he won't be able to play contact sports, but I don't think he was planning to anyway, unless the Senate devolves into one. (There was a time...read about Sumner and Brooks, but maybe that was the House, and anyway, that was pre-Civil War, IIRC). The worst thing that can happen is that he'd have to have the battery replaced occasionally. Or if it's a pacemaker/defibrillator, which there doesn't seem to be an indicator for, it might go off and shock his heart back into rhythm. Electrocardiology is a pretty fascinating field these days.

You're welcome. Signed, Cardiology RN (ret.)

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Oh I know

I have my own cardiologist and grew up with a dad who had one. Dad unfortunately died at age 50 after his 4th heart attack.

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. My dad got his pacer

when he was maybe 79. He'd had AFib for at least 15 years (that I knew about), maybe longer and it finally got bad enough that the doc said, okay, time to do something. Said he felt like he'd been kicked in the shoulder by a mule but went home the next morning. Lived to be 91.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Glad that your dad got that for some extra ooph!

Admire that drive, and energy, and spirit to keep on keeping on.

[multigraincracker]

21. Had one put in a little over a year ago..

No problems at all. Out running a week later.

[Deminpenn]

25. Reported to be pacemaker/defib

CNN is all a twitter about it, but doesn't seem to be bothering Dem primary voters at all.

[Jilly_in_VA]

29. Repeat, it is NOT a BFD

The PM/defib is pretty much the standard nowadays. This was coming in just before I retired in 2012, but one of the electrocardiologists I worked with as early as 2005 was hardly using standard PMs at all. He only put them in very elderly patients. The standard PM will probably go the way of the landline fairly soon now.

[ancianita]

28. Maybe not. But I'm confused. My hub had a defib-pacemaker, but it was for his heart. I thought

the cause of Fetterman's stroke was a clot, no?

Okay. Nevermind. I read downthread that he'd had an arrhythmia problem. Now I get it.

[Traildogbob]

10. Wonder if

Putin has stroke inducing drugs. Two Dems in one weekend??? Like Tuckster, just asking the question.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Well Fetterman's case was something that they probably knew about

and his hectic schedule basically helped to trigger it.

But I suppose when looking at Van Hollen, one could maybe put on the tin foil hat.

[Traildogbob]

15. Sure it was not Putin like

Just being sarcastic. But imagine if it were two repukes, Q would being going nuts.,

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Heh I figured that

but "in these times..."

[JohnSJ]

11. From my understanding pacemaker is because the heart rate is too slow, not to treat Atrial

Fibrillation

[BumRushDaShow]

13. The device they are claiming will be implanted

is pacemaker with a defibrillator, so the defibrillator would kick in if there is an arrhythmia.

ETA - that was in one of those "live update" things here - https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/live-updates-polls-open-7-am-pennsylvania-2022-primary-election/KQ4OS7WIZ5HHZONUVEJAWXVTQY/

UPDATE 3:00 p.m.

Lt. Governor John Fetterman will undergo a procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator, his campaign announced moments ago.

They released the following statement:

“John Fetterman is about to undergo a standard procedure to implant a pacemaker with a defibrillator. It should be a short procedure that will help protect his heart and address the underlying cause of his stroke, atrial fibrillation (A-fib), by regulating his heart rate and rhythm”

[JohnSJ]

14. If they added a defibrillator, then there is concern for ventricular tachycardia, which could lead

to a ventricular fibrillation.

If it is that, then that type of arrhythmia is much more serious than an atrial fibrillation.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. I expect that is why they kept him

and with the implant, they would obviously need to watch how it goes over time.

I don't know if he has a regular cardiologist who would have had an EKG records history for him or whether he had an echocardiogram before this incident (I have had one of those). But I expect all of that was done over the weekend and has informed the decision of what devices to use.

If anything, with that big sweatshirt on, it looks like he may have had one of those Holter monitors on underneath!

[gab13by13]

19. I agree John,

I messed with A-fib for 9 years until I went to a great doctor at UPMC. he laid out what his course of action for "my" A-fib.

1. Do a cryo-type, freezing out the bad electrical signal, ablation. Plan 1. worked for me, it has been 2 1/2 years and I am in steady rhythm. I just had a routine appointment today with my surgeon. He said that the ablation should be good from 5 to 7 years or maybe good forever.

2. If the cryo failed he would do the burn out the bad signal.
Both the cryo and burn procedures are done outpatient via a catheter up the groin.

3. i could choose a drug to keep me in rhythm, other than Amiodarone, which has less side effects.

4. he told me his last option was to insert a pace maker and or defibrillator.

I would not think the pacemaker is because his pulse was too slow. People who have A-fib are given medication to keep their pulse low. Drugs like Metoprolol and Entresto keep the pulse in the 60's or lower. the problem with A-fib is that the Atrium beats numerous times while the Ventricle only beats one time. This wild and crazy heartbeat wears out your heart, my pulse got up to 140 - 150 while being out of time, that's when I decided I better have it fixed. I got to thank my surgeon again today, he is the best.

[elleng]

18. Good. Hope the news doesn't adversely affect voting.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. One of the local reporters here

who covers Philly's City Hall (and Mayor) said that it probably won't have much of an impact although it's possible he might get "a sympathy vote".

But the one thing that reporters would always speculate about with respect to turnout was if there was any adverse weather (even something as benign as "rain" ). And I don't know how it is on the other side of the state or in between, but right here in Philly, it's been literally (using the euphemism) a "Chamber of Commerce Day" - sunny and a little breezy, with a temp in the upper 70s and low humidity.

(and many of us already voted by mail before today)

[elleng]

23. Good.

Same kind of weather here, in southern MD (and probably DC.)

[Deminpenn]

26. Beautiful day here in western PA

Blue skies, temp 70ish.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. That's good

Ahead of the brief "heatwave" being forecast.

[VarryOn]

24. I really think he will win the general...

He just comes across as a regular guy…no pretense. I like him!