Yes, you can travel with your device and drive a car if cleared by your doctor. You should be sure to always have your identification card with you wherever you go.  Persons with ICDs may not be allowed to drive unless cleared by their physician.

first, you may feel the weight of the device in your chest. However, over time, most people become accustomed to the way it feels. The pacemaker generator is very small, about the size of two silver dollars stacked on top of each other, and weighs about an ounce or less, depending on the make and model of the device. If the ICD sends a shock to the heart or "fires," the person will feel this as a jolt or kick in the chest.

Current models can last up to eight years. That can be reduced by the number of times you need "therapy" and will be shorter if you need frequent pacing. A pacemaker lasts longer because its battery demands are much lower - its purpose is simpler requiring much less energy and demanding less power for monitoring and analysis.

ICD = Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator. Like a pacemaker, it is a device to correct cardiac arrhythmia. This device usually has a pacing function to overcome slow beats. The cardioversion-defibrillation circuitry provides a short burst of high voltage electricity to disrupt the "fluttering" when a heart races as fast as 300+ beats per minute, and restore a normal (sinus rhythm) heart beat.

Most devices will last several years, after which the battery or pulse generator will need to be replaced. Replacing a  generator may be done on an outpatient basis or may include an overnight stay in the hospital.

It is all right to use the HeartStart on a person with an implanted device such as a pacemaker or ICD, but do not place the pads directly over the implant. You can tell where an implant is located by a lump in the skin and a scar. Installment sale contract. Subject to credit approval. No pre-payment penalty.

Yes, you can travel with your pacemaker and drive a car. You should be sure to always have your pacemaker identification card with you wherever you go.

The programmable pump will not be damaged by therapy pulses from the pacemaker or ICD. However, it is recommended to keep the programming head for the pacemaker or ICD at least 10cm (4 inches) away from the pump to minimise any potential interference. It also is important to keep the programming head of the pump programmer away from the pacemaker or ICD because the programming head contains a large magnet.

In many cases, both the pacemaker and the neurostimulator can be mutually compatible. Appropriate testing, placement and programming of the devices can help in achieving mutual compatibility. Under certain conditions, it is possible that the pacemaker or ICD could detect the output stimuli from a neurostimulator. This would cause inappropriate pacemaker or ICD operation during the time the stimuli are detected and possibly cause the delivery of an inadvertent shock.

In the old days, the devices were implanted left of the belly button with a long cable running under the breast, up near the collar bone, and down into the heart. Now that engineers found ways to make the ICD smaller, they are usually implanted in the left upper chest - eliminating some of the persistent pain that goes with the long cable which can move around.

That all depends on your condition and your line of work. Many ICD owners still work without a problem. For others the condition that caused the need for the ICD is significant enough that they qualify for social security disability. Some people need to find a different type of work – for example you may no longer be qualified to be a front line police officer, or a steel worker balancing on a girder hundreds of feet above the ground, if you have the potential of getting a 700 volt zap.