By CHARLOTTE PERKINS
Journal Staff Writer
Mayor Jimmy Faircloth of Perry was taken by ambulance to the Medical Center of Central Georgia on Wednesday morning after his physician discovered that his heart rate was dangerously low.
Faircloth, who had a pacemaker implanted Wednesday afternoon, gave an interview by cell phone from his hospital bed on Thursday morning, sounding alert, cheerful and thankful that a serious problem had been diagnosed and corrected.
“I had a regularly scheduled appointment with my physician, Dr. Samuel Palmer,” Faircloth said. “He asked how I was doing, and I said I’d been a little tired. It turned out that my blood pressure was low and my pulse rate was around 35. I had an EKG (electrocardiogram), and Dr. Palmer called my cardiologist. Then I went by ambulance (to the Medical Center) and had the pacemaker put in about 1 p.m.”
Faircloth, who has had a very busy schedule this month as a newly-elected mayor with a full time job at Parrish Construction, said, “I knew I didn’t have the stamina lately that I normally have.”
He said he was diagnosed with a Level 3 Heart Block, and explained that while he has had heart procedures before, the earlier problems were related to arterial blockage. He had a stint put in a few years ago.
The condition that sent him to the hospital this week had nothing to do with arterial blockage. His problem was with the electrical impulses that stimulate the heartbeat. The pacemaker, which he says is “state of the art”, will kick in if his heart beat drops below normal. It is placed just under the skin near the collarbone area and is attached to the heart with tiny wires.
The mayor said that while he was tired from the surgery, he was already feeling “a whole lot better. “
He was expecting to be discharged Friday morning and to resume his normal schedule on Monday.
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