Just a few months ago, 80 year old father of six, grandfather of 18 and great grandfather of 7 Walter Breaux suffered from shortness of breath and wasn’t able to do his every day chores.

“The heart was not working right. It would stop and go and they said it would stop too long.”

“In his situation, his heart goes slow at times.”

Cardiac Electro Physiologist Dr. Marc Saad told Breaux he would need a pacemaker.

Breaux qualified for the newest and smallest pacemaker – the micra – a procedure Dr. Saad had never performed on a patient before.  

“So I said I’m going to try the new one because its less down time.”

This pacemaker is only about the size of a pill.

This compared to the average pacemaker which stays in the chest, with the leads placed in the veins leading to the heart. 
 
“As you can imagine, creating a pocket here can have complications of bleeding, bruising there. there is a long term risk of having a majority of infections at the pacemaker pocket.”

With the micra pacemaker, the doctor makes an incision in the groin, using a catheter to implant the pacemaker into the bottom heart chamber.

the optimal place is placing it on the wall here between the right ventricle and the left ventricle.)

With this newest pacemaker, Dr. Saad says it should last about 12 years, compared to 5 to 10 years with the older model.

Breaux says he was back to normal after about two weeks. 

He’s thankful he’ll continue to be around for his family.

“Been doing good. been doing yard work, weed eating. back to my regular chores.

In Lafayette, Megan Kelly, KLFY News 10.