Ten years ago

Ten years ago, when Lange first moved to Dallas, his new doctor discovered an irregular heartbeat through an Electrocardiogram (EKG), as part of a routine physical. That irregular heartbeat meant Lange had a condition called Atrial fibrillation (AFib); Lange’s condition was heart failure, and it manifested itself in the form of AFib, and later ventricular tachycardia (v-tach). He didn’t realize it at the time, but his life had changed forever.
“For the first few years, my doctors managed (my condition) with medication, but in 2020, I had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) installed in my chest,” Lange said. “It’s a lot like a pacemaker — it would monitor my heart because, as it got weaker, it would be prone to [irregular heartbeats], I would go into v-tach, and my heart would stop.”
Like many patients that suffer with heart failure, Lange’s heart failure was a result of genetic conditions. Unlike heart weaknesses that are individually congenital or result from bodily deterioration and exhaustion, hereditary heart weakness is intertwined in the DNA that also attacks other parts of the body like the liver and kidney.
Regardless of the reason for the condition, all of them are susceptible to cardiac arrest or irregular heart palpitation resulting in the halt of all bodily function. That’s where the defibrillator comes in.
“The defibrillator that Mr. Lange had installed was necessary to help combat his heart weakness,” said Dr. Dan Meyer, the chair of Baylor Scott & White Health’s Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. “What happens is sometimes the heart is beating so fast and isn’t able to create enough blood pressure to supply the rest of the body. When that happens, he’s not dead, but he can’t really do anything. The defibrillator sends a charge to the heart in a way that restores a normal heartbeat which will allow functions to resume.”
That ICD saved his life more than once.