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| Medtronic |
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| Miracle ICD Study -- Insync Defibrillator |
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| The MIRACLE ICD stands for Muti-center InSync Randomized Clinical Evaluation Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. The MIRACLE ICD study is a randomized evaluation of the InSync ICD Implantable system and is sponsored by Medtronic, Inc., the world’s leading medical technology company specializing in implantable and interventional therapies. The InSync ICD system is designed to treat abnormally fast heart rates and resynchronize the left and right ventricles. |
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| Please see: http://www.medtronic.com/hf/ |
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| After reading the Medtronic Patient Information booklet I was given in June 2001 when I volunteered for this Miracle InSync ICD study, I understood fully how it should work and what it does. The new InSync ICD was designed to resynchronize the left and right chambers of the heart to beat more effectively while also treating the fast heart rhythms with electrical impulses (Medtronic’s description). |
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| My version -- It was going to make my heart stronger and better by making both heart chambers beat at the same time, in essence, increasing the amount of blood being circulated by my weak heart (CHF), while still protecting against the ventricular fibrillation. |
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| After being turned down for a heart transplant at OHSU due to Emphysema, I volunteered for the InSync ICD and it was implanted in my chest with the three leads going into my heart in June of 2001. Immediately after the surgery, I knew the experimental ICD device was in the "ON" position. I had the stamina, and ability to breathe and do work around the house. |
| This was the best thing that had happened to me at that point in time. |
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| Four months later while I was getting the tests for the InSync study, Dr. Ranae Ratkovec said I should go to the University of Washington to see about getting retested for a heart transplant. |
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| I retested for a heart transplant at the University of Washington Medical Center in October 2001. That's when they told me I was eligible for the transplant but my creatinine level was too high and I had to get that taken care of before the transplant. Little did I know I had IgA nepathropathy. |
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My deepest appreciation, and heart warm sense of trust go out to Medtronic, the maker of the Miracle InSync ICD, and the medical staff at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center The Heart Institute, and the following doctors and staff:
Thomas S. Miller, MD
Daniel S. Oseran, MD
Blair D. Halperin, MD
Polly Luthro, RN -- And all the other nurses working with Polly, past and present, including those I know well e.g., Stephanie, Ruthanne, Jean, and Valerie.
Ranae Ratkovec, MD
Lawrence W. Elzinga, MD -- The staff at the Hemodialysis, plus the Peritoneal Dialysis Centers I attended,
with special acknowledgement given to peritoneal dialysis nurses Karen and Liz.
W. Kent Williamson, MD
Frederick T. Waller, MD for the excellent lower back surgery (laminectomy).
I could probably thank a hundred other people,but I do have to give my love, and my life, to the most important lady in my life, my lovely and beautiful wife -- Joanne Rothwell, who literally saved my life when I had my first heart attack. Joanne performed CPR on me until the paramedics arrived and jump-started my heart back into operation. (I had "VF") A very important item in my recovery has nothing to do with "who treated who" or what procedures were performed. No, it has to to with something Joanne insisted I do. She told me I had to become "PRO-ACTIVE" in my own care. There are a number circumstances envolved in the miraculous reversal of my kidney disease, but I have to give credit for something that without which, I would not be here. Joanne insisted I become involved in the medicines I took, making and transporting myself to and from the multitude of doctors appointments I had to succumb to, and all the other details like food I ate, and normal self-hygiene. Note: becoming Pro-active turned on something that made me want to survive, I can't explain what that something is, but without it, knowing I had terminal heart disease and dialysis for the rest of my life, I do believe I would have given up and stopped the dialysis treatments I was taking. It would have been dumb, but it was an eazy-out option. |
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