Ken having his defibrillator checked out.

Ken attends the Austin Hospital every three months for the Pacemaker clinic to check that his defibrillator implant is working as it should.   It only takes a few minutes but we are always fascinated by the way the medics do it.  Ken sits in a chair near the computers and the nurse slings a gadget over his neck, which sits on top of his defib.implant.

This is hooked up to two computers which show information about the defibrillator, for instance if the battery needs replacing, or if Ken's heart is beating too fast or too slow, in which case they adjust the heart beat by manipulating the defibrillator.   The nurse then feeds the information over to another girl on another computer who keys everything in to their database presumably.

Today I asked permission to take some photos and the girls were surprised by my request.  "What on earth for?" they asked, and I explained that every time people ask how Ken's defib. device is checked, it is hard to explain, so I thought photos would be good.  They laughed and said go ahead!  I guess for the medics in that area, it is just their everyday job and nothing out of the ordinary, but when you are the recipient of the device that is actually keeping you alive, you have quite a different attitude toward it.