Earlier this week, it became known that King Harald (87) has too low a heart rate – and will therefore have a permanent pacemaker inserted after the operation.
This happened after he was admitted to the Sultanah Maliha Hospital in Langkawi in Malaysia last week, where he was treated for an unknown infection.
Another who has lived like a king with a pacemaker is former TV 2 profile Jan Øyvind Helgesen (74). He had this inserted after an incident in 2018.
– Complete chaos
It all happened on a winter’s day in February 2018 – when he was down at the gate where he lives, on his way to IKEA with a trailer.
Then everything went black.
– It was complete chaos. Then my daughter had come right behind me and saw that I was sitting on the ground. She immediately understood what it was all about, and went to CPR – and went into action so that her ribs cracked, he tells TV 2 and continues:
– She pushed and held on while she called 113. They were there very quickly, and then I got an electric shock. Then it was straight to Ullevål hospital.
Then it was two weeks before he had surgery to insert a pacemaker combined with a defibrillator.
Since then, the device has been in action several times – and it didn’t take long from discharge before it happened again.
– Not long after I got home from Ullevål I had another cardiac arrest, and then I was unconscious. You are the last to know, and it turns black when there is no oxygen in the system and heart function stops.
– When I was on my way back up it was like coming from the bottom and up towards the light – then it slammed once more.
The 74-year-old says that you can feel the shock coming from the pacemaker, which made him shout “Oi!” – even though he was unconscious.
– I live primarily because of my daughter who was so resolute. “Without her, things could have gone completely wrong,” they said at the hospital.
May cause severe electric shock
Torkel Steen, senior physician at the Pacemaker and ICD center at Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, says that there are between 600 and 800 volts in such a shock.
This small device, which King Harald will have operated on when he is healthy enough and free of infection, says Steen, is life-saving.
LIFE-SAVING: The small device on the left is a pacemaker. Photo: Bjarte Ragnhildstveit / Good morning Norway
– What Jan Øyvind received was a defibrillator, which can deliver a powerful electric shock. It is said that King Harald needs a pacemaker to ensure that it does not go too slowly, and in some cases it is absolutely life-saving. But in other cases it affects the quality of life more.
Although the operation may sound complicated, the doctor says that it is relatively simple:
OPERATION: Senior doctor Torkel Steen says that it is a simple operation. Photo: Bjarte Ragnhildstveit / Good morning Norway
– An incision is made at an angle, approximately five centimeters above the pectoral muscle, and then a pocket is made under the skin and fat on top of the muscle. Then a large vein runs from the arm into the body, which is as thick as a finger, he says and continues:
– You poke holes in it – how many depends on how many wires the patient needs. It is then threaded down through the vascular system, and a wire goes to the right main chamber. Very often, a wire is also placed in the right atrium, and a wire around the heart and out on the left side if the patient needs it.
37,000 Norwegians live with a pacemaker
The superintendent says that this does not rust, and that the battery inside has 10 years of operation.
WILL FEEL BETTER: Senior doctor Torkel Steen says that King Harald will most likely feel better after he has a pacemaker operation. Photo: Hanna Kristin Hjardar / TV 2
37,000 Norwegians have today had a pacemaker inserted, and Helgesen says that he does not live with fear – but rather a kind of “insurance”.
– I am better insured than most others who might have a heart problem, but follow-up is important. At home, I have a monitor that communicates with Ullevål hospital, and not so long ago I was called by them – because they saw that I had some irregularities.
Nevertheless, the 74-year-old says that he wishes he felt different – and was able to do things he couldn’t, before he was operated on.
– It would have been an easy way to get in shape, but I’m afraid I’ll have to do the work myself.
Chief physician Torkel Steen says that when King Harald has a permanent pacemaker inserted, he will most likely feel better quickly:
– The pacemaker is not an obstacle to a normal life. We have people who walk Birken, cycle Trondheim to Oslo – anything is possible.
The reason why one must be infection-free is that the bacteria can settle on the pacemaker, the wires and on the pacemaker box:
– Therefore, they would like to let the patient wear a temporary pacemaker until the infection is completely gone.